Mom it Forward » Home Organization

Clutter Control: 4 Ways to Keep Your Home Organized

Tiffany Ford — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:00:06 +0000

It’s a new year and everyone is making their New Year’s resolutions. Many choose resolutions related to finances and fitness. I generally choose resolutions that are associated with my home and family, more specifically – organization.

January is a great time to get organized. It’s a new year and you can start off fresh by getting rid of items in your home you no longer use or need. But getting organized isn’t just about purging junk in your home, it’s about making your home a place where you can relax. Having organization systems in place for things such as finances, paper clutter, and closets can make life a lot less stressful and create a home that everyone can enjoy.

4 Ways to Stay Organized

Many people don’t know where to start when organizing, so they refuse to even try. Organization can definitely be a daunting task – especially when you don’t consider yourself to be an organized person. Here are a few simple tips to help get you started.

Start small.

Look around the room you’re in right now. What is driving you absolutely crazy? Or what is something you’d like to change? Maybe it’s a pile of papers on your desk or a bookshelf that has been carelessly used as a dumping ground for knickknacks and books. Whatever that one section is in your room, go conquer it right now. When you start small, you can complete one task at a time and won’t end up overwhelmed by looking at the big picture all at once — especially if the room is a complete disaster.

Take your time completing the task.

Don’t feel like you have to overhaul that bookshelf in 10 minutes. Thorough organization is best. Once you take the time to actually fully organize something, and you’re proud of the system you’ve created (or the mess you’ve cleaned up), you’ll feel like you want to keep up with what you’ve done and your organization will last a lot longer.

Make an organization list.

Many people feel a sense of accomplishment when they make lists and cross of tasks they’ve completed. Make an organization to-do list of places in your home you’d like to organize. Be specific. Don’t just write down “kitchen” – it’s too big of an area. Break it down into tasks such as “food storage containers, pantry, spices, silverware drawer, etc.”, and then you’ll know exactly what you’re going to tackle when you choose a task from your list.

Make time for organization.

Schedule organizing into your weekly routine. Even if you only have 15 minutes once a week to organize, it’s better than no time at all.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned”. Try it out for yourself and get organized in 2012.

How much time can you save yourself, and family, by simply organizing and creating organization systems in your home?

I’ll be back next week with tips on how to manage your time more effectively with routines and schedules.

Tiffany Ford is a wife, 2nd grade teacher, and DIY organizer. She lives in Salt Lake City, UT with her husband, Chris, and adorable dog, Jazz. Tiffany is the writer behind The Nest Effect, a mash up blog about teaching, organization, life, home, and everything in between. She also runs an Etsy store, where she sells printable documents to help others organize their home.

Clutter Control: How To Work With a Professional Organizer

Holly Homer — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:00:55 +0000

As part of this clutter control series, we’ll be discussing ways to free yourself from a cluttered home and uncover simple organization tips that you can follow to live in a more organized and functional home. Today’s rule is all about calling in a professional to help you organize your home.

Clutter Control Rule #13: Call in a Professional.

A whole new profession has arisen of saintly people who make their living solving other people’s clutter and organizational problems. They will come into your home and—working either with you or by themselves—will clean out the closets, install the necessary organizers, set up a filing system for you, and generously encourage the calm you’ve longed for to emerge from the chaos that’s been driving you crazy.

If you opt to have the professional work with you, use this time to observe and ask them about their techniques and why they like what they do. Their responses might be things you haven’t thought about before and could be just the encouragement you need to keep your home clutter free.

How do you find a pro? Look in the yellow pages under “Organizing.” In my city’s yellow pages they’re listed under “Organizing Services and Systems—Household and Business.” Some other places to look are the advertisement spaces of your neighborhood fliers, and also and through community-oriented classes. Household organizing or anti-clutter classes are taught several times a year in some cities and the instructors usually work in the field themselves.

However, there’s a catch to this rule. We insist that you use the service only if you promise to follow all the other rules once the professional has come and gone. Otherwise, he or she will leave, and the clutter will return almost immediately unless you modify your behavior. That would be unfortunate because you would have paid someone to de-clutter your home, but it will only stay like that for a short time. Again, take this opportunity to learn from the ones who know what they are doing and continuing with the upkeep. Implementing this rule does not reduce the number of rules to just this one, in other words.

Have you ever called in a professional to help you organize your home? How did the organizer help you get and stay on track with maintaining your home’s organization?

To follow along in this series, please be sure to check out the previous clutter control tips and tricks:

Debbie Sardone is the founder of Cleaning For a Reason which provides free cleaning services to women who are touched by cancer. She also owns a Dallas cleaning service.

Her long-time passion for teaching cleaning and organizational has lead her to continue the legacy of Speed Cleaning and the use of green cleaning products.

She can be followed as @DebbieSardone on Twitter.

Clutter Control: How To Label Items for Easy Storage Solutions

Holly Homer — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:46:35 +0000

Clutter Control Rule # 12: Label Items.

We’re not talking about putting a label just on the kids’ gym shorts, although that’s a prudent idea. We’re talking about labeling things around the house—things that people don’t label because they don’t think of it or because they think it isn’t necessary.

How often have you gone to a storage closet to retrieve something from a cardboard box you had stored there yourself, only to find that there are now six cardboard boxes there and they all look the same? You start by muscling down what you think is the correct box and taking off the tape with which you so carefully sealed it. After you discover that an item isn’t in that box, you halfway reseal it with the used tape and start on the next box. Let’s say you do eventually find the item you’re looking for—it’s just that it’s forty-five minutes and six boxes later. That’s the kind of problem that labeling can avoid.

Label Storage Boxes

Label all storage boxes to avoid the grief outlined above. Get a good marking pen and, at least on cardboard boxes, write on the box itself. Try hard to avoid the label “Miscellaneous.” Other examples of labels that may come back to haunt you are “Garage Sale” or “Charity.” Even if your label ends up listing everything in the box, doing so is still simpler than looking through your entire collection of boxes.

Usually you can get away with a label such as “Books” or “Summer Clothes”—as long as you don’t have more than one box with that same label. Use a label just complete enough so you can tell what’s in the box without actually opening it. When you add or remove items from a box, change the label accordingly.

Label Frozen Food

Everything starts to look alike after a few days in the freezer. That’s understandable if you wrap items in aluminum foil, of course, but food stored even in plastic wrap turns white and crystalline and becomes disguised quickly enough.

Put a roll of inch-wide masking tape and a pen in a drawer next to the freezer wrap of your choice. Use a length of the tape to make a label for everything you freeze. Also add the date to the label. If you have more than one package of chicken, you’ll know which one to use first.

How do you label items in your home to keep everything organized and easy to find? What types of items do you label?

To follow along in this series, please be sure to check out the previous clutter control tips and tricks:

Debbie Sardone is the founder of Cleaning For a Reason which provides free cleaning services to women who are touched by cancer. She also owns a Dallas cleaning service.

Her long-time passion for teaching cleaning and organizational has lead her to continue the legacy of Speed Cleaning and the use of green cleaning products.

She can be followed as @DebbieSardone on Twitter.

Clutter Control: 10 Ways to Avoid Procrastinating Clutter Cleanup

Holly Homer — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:00:31 +0000

Clutter Control Rule # 11: Don’t do things “later.”

Let’s say you just spent an hour picking up in the family room. The room is now in impeccable shape—splendidly uncluttered by things that don’t belong there. You know only too well that it can be turned into a war zone by the family in minutes: discarded clothes, food, dirty dishes, shoes, toys (kids’, dogs’, and cats’), soft drink and/or beer cans, dirty ashtrays, school papers, newspapers, magazines, cups, and glasses.

10 Simple Ways to Tackle Clutter and Avoid Procrastinating

The following are ways to tackle clutter, avoid procrastinating, and leave a room the way you found it:

Take items out of a room if you brought it into the room. Be sure to do this the very next time you leave that room (after you’re done with it, of course).
Take things upstairs if you are going there anyway.
Take things downstairs if you are going there anyway.
Take everything out of the car that was added this trip.
Pick up things when they drop.
Wipe up spills when they happen.
Vacuum up messes when they occur.
Wash dirty dishes and wipe off the counters before the food dries on them.
Fold clothes when they emerge from the dryer.
Iron clothes while they are still slightly damp.

A lot of clutter in your home will disappear if you follow this rule. The basic premise is that you need to leave a room the way you found it. For example, If there wasn’t toothpaste spread on the sink before you came into the room, there shouldn’t be any there when you leave it.

This rule solves clutter problems without adding one second of time or one ounce of work to anyone’s overwhelmed schedule. It doesn’t involve any extra time to take dirty dishes to the kitchen if you’re going there anyway to get a glass of water. It doesn’t take any extra time to carry your shoes to your bedroom if you’re going up there anyway to do your homework.

What habits have you developed to avoid procrastinating when it comes to clutter cleanup? What steps do you take to make sure you leave a room the way you found it?

To follow along in this series, please be sure to check out the previous clutter control tips and tricks:

Debbie Sardone is the founder of Cleaning For a Reason which provides free cleaning services to women who are touched by cancer. She also owns a Dallas cleaning service.

Her long-time passion for teaching cleaning and organizational has lead her to continue the legacy of Speed Cleaning and the use of green cleaning products.

She can be followed as @DebbieSardone on Twitter.

Clutter Control: Test Items Before Displaying in Your House

Holly Homer — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:00:28 +0000

As part of this clutter control series, we’ll be discussing ways to free yourself from a cluttered home and uncover simple organization tips that you can follow to live in a more organized and functional home. Today’s rule is all about having the display items in your house pass a test.

Clutter Control Rule #10: Items displayed in the house have to pass a test.

This seems only fair. After all, you have only so much space. The items taking up that space should justify themselves. The test is not complicated. They just have to have a valid reason for being there. The reason can involve function or form. But it doesn’t pass just because someone put it there “for now” five years ago and it’s never been moved since, or because someone gave it to you who might notice if it’s gone, or because you don’t know where else to put it.

Here are some example tests you can use when going through your clutter:

Have I worn this item of clothing the past year? If the answer is no, put it in a box to drop off at a local charity, perhaps a women’s shelter.
Have I used this 5-in-1 egg slicer in the past year? If it’s still in the box with a “happy wedding day” note, and you’ve been married for 8 years, the answer is no. Get rid of it. That will teach you a lesson on going scan crazy at Bed Bath and Beyond.
Does this sock have a partner? If the answer is no, throw the sock away. Don’t keep thinking your dryer will spit out the sock that it magically ate 3 months ago.

If you really want to get serious about de-cluttering your home, you can use this test: Would I grab this item if my house were on fire?

Personally, I subscribe to three different magazines that are mailed out on a monthly basis. I like them because they have really great recipes. Instead of keeping the magazines and allowing them to take up space until I’m ready to find a recipe, I rip out the recipes that I like as I flip through the magazine. Once I’m done flipping through the magazine, I file my favorite recipes in page protectors, put them in my homemade recipe binder, and recycle the rest of the magazine. Doing this allows me to avoid the “have you picked up this magazine in a year?” test. For a step-by-step process on this tip, please be sure to check out this How To on How To Organize Food Magazine Recipes.

Bottom line is, think of a reasonable test for your clutter and implement it.

How do you test items before displaying them in your home? What types of items pass the test and what items don’t pass the test?

To follow along in this series, please be sure to check out the previous clutter control tips and tricks:

Debbie Sardone is the founder of Cleaning For a Reason which provides free cleaning services to women who are touched by cancer. She also owns a Dallas cleaning service.

Her long-time passion for teaching cleaning and organizational has lead her to continue the legacy of Speed Cleaning and the use of green cleaning products.

She can be followed as @DebbieSardone on Twitter.

Clutter Control: Assigning a Place for the Items in Your Home

Holly Homer — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:00:30 +0000

Clutter Control Rule #9: A place for everything, and everything in its place.

Obviously your parents thought of this rule before we did, but maybe that’s just another reason why it’s so important for getting rid of clutter. Some clutter is just stuff that belongs someplace else. Whether it’s the kids’ toys strewn through the house, a closet full of clothes that no one in the family wears any longer, newspapers piled in the corner, or paper stacked on the desk, these items are clutter as long as they are not in their proper place.

Let me help you with a couple of easy ones. The spotty, green and black lunch meat in the refrigerator? Its place is in the trash can. The clothes that cover every inch of the carpet in your bedroom? Their place is in one of three places: the dirty clothes hamper, your dresser, or your closet. The dishes in the sink? Their place is in the dishwasher. Get the picture? If you get overwhelmed at any point, reference Rule #8.

Clearly, it’s much easier to decide to put everything in its place than it is actually to do it—especially if you’re fresh out of places.

The flip side of this rule means that if everything is in its place, you can find an item precisely when you want it. That event in and of itself can sometimes make your day. I never noticed that my father was excited to find anything in its place, but I could always tell when something was out of place. Not because I noticed it was missing, but because my father expressed it loudly and clearly. I was notorious for taking things from their places and not putting them back. The phrases I heard the most were, “Where are my scissors?” and “Who got the milk out and didn’t put it back in the refrigerator?” I’m not sure what I was doing with scissors, maybe making collages from my Seventeen magazine clippings. That’s neither here nor there. The point is, when things are organized and in their place, this chaotic life we live seems to be a tiny bit more manageable.

How do you assign items to different place in your home? What are your tips and tricks for making items in your home easy to locate?

To follow along in this series, please be sure to check out the previous clutter control tips and tricks:

Debbie Sardone is the founder of Cleaning For a Reason which provides free cleaning services to women who are touched by cancer. She also owns a Dallas cleaning service.

Her long-time passion for teaching cleaning and organizational has lead her to continue the legacy of Speed Cleaning and the use of green cleaning products.

She can be followed as @DebbieSardone on Twitter.

Clutter Control: Making an Action Plan to Get Organized

Holly Homer — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:00:30 +0000

Clutter Control Rule #8: Do Something.

This rule really isn’t as flip as it sounds. We’re encouraging you to proceed to action in order to solve or fix something that’s bothering you. Most of us have some idea of what to do to solve our own clutter problems. We may not know exactly what to do, or exactly where to start, or what to toss and what to save, or what we need to buy in the way of shelves or storage baskets. But we do know we need to clean out, toss, and organize. Unfortunately, for many of us, what we do best with our clutter is to fret about it and mull it over. We may practically salivate when we see a sale on closet organizers, but we’re still stuck by our own indecision and inaction.

No matter how overwhelming your clutter is, you’ve got to start somewhere. Everyone starts with a single step, even if it’s a baby step. Let’s start with the smallest and quickest fix. Whether it be your plastic storage containers, gift wrapping paper supply, or clothes pin collection, pick one and stick with it until it’s finished. Now move on and attack the next project.

Even if you have a room full of clutter to the point where you can barely open the door, there is no need to worry. Start with the items stored just inside the door. You’ll need to keep Rule #1 and Rule #2 at the forefront of your mind with each item of clutter you encounter. The important thin to remember is it it doesn’t matter how long it takes to finish the room, just keep moving. Before you know it, you’ll be able to see parts of the carpet and say, “Hey, what’s that? There’s a bed in here? Honey! We can stop looking on Craigslist for a new bed! There’s one in here!” You never know what kind of treasures you’ll uncover as you de-clutter your home. So what are you waiting for? Go do something!

When it comes to organizing your home, how do you take action against clutter? What steps do you take to reduce the clutter in your home?

To follow along in this series, please be sure to check out the previous clutter control tips and tricks:

Debbie Sardone is the founder of Cleaning For a Reason which provides free cleaning services to women who are touched by cancer. She also owns a Dallas cleaning service.

Her long-time passion for teaching cleaning and organizational has lead her to continue the legacy of Speed Cleaning and the use of green cleaning products.

She can be followed as @DebbieSardone on Twitter.

Clutter Control: How To Properly Use a Filing Cabinet

Holly Homer — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:00:20 +0000

Clutter Control Rule #7: Use a filing cabinet.

We feel as strongly about this as Hoover felt about a chicken in every pot. Every contemporary home needs a file cabinet—not just those with a home office or those belonging to your super organized friends. Even if you don’t have a desk—or instead of one if you don’t have room—invest in a filing cabinet. You can always use the dining room table as a temporary desk, but nothing else is a substitute for a filing cabinet.

Filing cabinets start at about $40 for an inexpensive one with two drawers. An office-quality filing cabinet of the same size can be two or three times as much. There are definite advantages to the more expensive ones: the drawers open fully so you can easily file all the way to the back. The drawers in the cheap ones don’t open more than two-thirds of the way, so filing in the back of the drawer is always a pain. But even if you get the cheapest one available, it’s still a great deal.

Some new cabinets have built-in metal frames for hanging file folders. If not, purchase an add-on frame for each drawer. And get a supply of the hanging files themselves. One of the reasons some people don’t like file cabinets is because they have never used them with hanging files. These hanging files are what changed the cabinet into the wonderful clutter-buster it is.

Besides being a perfect storage place for such obvious choices as bills, important papers, and correspondence, the file cabinet is just right for warranty cards, product information, instruction booklets, stationary, photos, stamps, your kids’ important schoolwork, report cards, spare batteries, diskettes, pens, pencils, tax returns, receipts, invoices, telephone books, and certain other books you want nearby, such as dictionaries, catalogs, address books, photo albums, and more. All sorts of non-traditional items can be stored in files, to your advantage.

Do you use a filing cabinet to keep your paperwork organized? What are some of the not to obvious items you’ll store in your file cabinet?

To follow along in this series, please be sure to check out the previous clutter control tips and tricks:

Debbie Sardone is the founder of Cleaning For a Reason which provides free cleaning services to women who are touched by cancer. She also owns a Dallas cleaning service.

Her long-time passion for teaching cleaning and organizational has lead her to continue the legacy of Speed Cleaning and the use of green cleaning products.

She can be followed as @DebbieSardone on Twitter.

Clutter Control: Creating a Recycling Program for Your Home

Holly Homer — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:00:11 +0000

Clutter Control Rule #5: Recycle it.

We’re not talking about just paper, aluminum, glass, and plastic. You may argue that you throw these items away anyway, so how does recycling help with uncluttering? Well, for one thing, it’s a good habit to form when getting used to putting certain things in certain places. In addition, many people have a tough time parting with certain containers, especially glass bottles. Mayonnaise jars are good for storing bacon fat, and pickle jars or peanut-butter jars are just right for something else.

Recycling finally allows the world’s bottle-savers to put their bottles to good use. Recycle them. The same goes for plastic Cool Whip containers, with their irresistible resealing lid, and microwave plates that remain after the dinner has been eaten. Even if you can’t recycle plastic in your area, don’t save these disposable items.

Other things can be recycled also. What about clothes you no longer wear or fit into? Recycle them into the hands of someone who needs them. Don’t forget old sweaters and shoes that aren’t so obvious when you open the closet door. What about books that overflow the capacity of your bookshelves? Sell them to a used-books store, or give them to a school library.

Magazines can be given to a school or hospital or nursing home full of folks who will enjoy them. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of finding a new home for your old magazines, recycle them with your newspapers, if allowed. Old towels can be used for rags only if you need more rags. Otherwise, recycle them along with your old clothes. The same goes for unused linen, baby clothes, diapers, ties, belts, purses, wallets, plants, or bikes. In fact, almost any inanimate object in your house is a candidate for reuse by someone else.

How do you recycle items in your home? What item in your home is your number #1 candidate for your new recycling program?

To follow along in this series, please be sure to check out the previous clutter control tips and tricks:

Debbie Sardone is the founder of Cleaning For a Reason which provides free cleaning services to women who are touched by cancer. She also owns a Dallas cleaning service.

Her long-time passion for teaching cleaning and organizational has lead her to continue the legacy of Speed Cleaning and the use of green cleaning products.

She can be followed as @DebbieSardone on Twitter.

Clutter Control: Simple Ways to Handle a Household Item Once

Holly Homer — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:00:57 +0000

As part of this clutter control series, we’ll be discussing ways to free yourself from a cluttered home and uncover simple organization tips that you can follow to live in a more organized and functional home. Today’s rule is all about handling something once and ridding yourself of the “for now” phrase.

Clutter Control Rule #4: Handle Something Once. Rid Yourself of the “For Now” Phrase.

This rule is necessary because of the excuse “for now.” For example, “I will put this jacket here for now,” or ” I will put this stack of papers here for now.” This phrase is forbidden to a known clutterer.

Once you say “for now,” you are admitting that you are going to handle whatever it is more than once. That seemingly innocuous decision increases clutter and at least doubles your work load. What you’re really doing when you utter those forbidden words is putting off making a decision about it right then and there. Don’t be lazy. That decision won’t go away just because you put it off, and it won’t be any easier to make later on. So make your decisions about things right then and there.

Here’s one way to apply this rule: When mail arrives, don’t just idly sort through it looking for something interesting. Instead, stand next to a recycling bin or trash can as you sort. Toss the appropriate pieces then and there. This exercise is a very liberating thing to do. Put bills in the “Bills” file of your cabinet. Put interesting catalogs or ads with the newspaper and look at them after you read the paper. Then file them as needed or recycle them with the newspaper.

We met a woman who stood at the trash can as her kids brought home paperwork from school. She looked at each paper, made the appropriate comments directly to her kids, and tossed it into the trash. If the paper was special in some way and merited saving, she had a special place for it in her filing cabinet.

My mother’s repair drawer was a great example of the lengths to which the “for now” philosophy could be carried. Putting something in that drawer was exactly the same as throwing it away, because nothing ever emerged from it. We just kept more and bigger repair drawers to hold all that stuff. When the opportunity arises, or whenever you feel the words “for now” starting to form on your lips, remind yourself to handle the item once. Don’t leave it in some temporary holding area instead of where it ultimately belongs.

How many times do you normally handle an item in your home before deciding whether or not to store it or toss it?

To follow along in this series, please be sure to check out the previous clutter control tips and tricks:

Debbie Sardone is the founder of Cleaning For a Reason which provides free cleaning services to women who are touched by cancer. She also owns a Dallas cleaning service.

Her long-time passion for teaching cleaning and organizational has lead her to continue the legacy of Speed Cleaning and the use of green cleaning products.

She can be followed as @DebbieSardone on Twitter.