Moving offers one great organizing reward: For at least one week after unpacking, you know where everything is.
It's an easy (but prohibitively expensive) way to get it together.
You can see at a glance that you have 40 C batteries and three 100-watt light bulbs. You have 12 cans of dog food and one extra leash.
Does life get any better than this?
We all know it's possible to have a streamlined home because we've all done it.
Unfortunately, organizing has the same inherent problems as dieting.
You can't just do it one week a year – it has to become a way of life or your organizing system crumbles, and it's back to continual chaos.
The following 5 tips are not the last word in getting your home organized - they're the starting place. Adopt ideas that suit your needs, amend others, and discard what won't work in your home.
Check the system regularly to see what's working and what's not.
Even the "perfect" system naturally evolves with your family.
1 Cull and Purge.
Start by getting rid of the excess stuff, much as you do when you're preparing to move.
Throw or give away anything you don't use.
Box items you're not sure of and and
store them in the garage
for six months to a year. Re-evaluate whether they're really essential to keep in six months.
2 Reform Clutter Hotspots.
These include:
• By the entry door.
• On the kitchen table.
• On flat surfaces such as bureaus, dressers,tables.• All over your kid's room.
• In drawers, closets, attics and garages.
The entry door is obvious: It's where the whole family dumps the stuff they're lugging in from the car: books, backpacks, mail, briefcases, shopping bags, purses, sunglasses, coats.
Entry clutter is demoralizing because it's the first thing you see when you come in.
Fix this by making the entry way one of the first things you tackle when organizing your home.
The kitchen table is where kids do homework and play games. It's where parents pay bills, sign school papers and read the mail and the newspaper.
Clutter accumulates here when you don't have a proper place to put things away. Provide a proper place for these items and clutter vanishes.
Kids' rooms are messy because they have kids in them. (That we can't fix.)
Kids have lots of stuff with lots of pieces. And it's the rare child who likes to clean his room.
Create places where your child can stash this stuff together, such as a clear plastic lidded bin or large wicker basket.
3 Contain Everything.
Baskets are a good place to contain and stash stuff attractively. A few strategic spots for clutter baskets:
• The family entrance area.
Consider a storage chest with a bin or basket for each family member. When he or she comes home, its easy to stash stuff they're carrying in the designated place and distribute it later.
• Bottom of the stairs.
Collect items here and take them all upstairs in one trip. This is a temporary resting place.
When the baskets are full, empty them by placing the contents inside where they belong.
4 Assign Items Their Own Space.
When you need an extension cord, you should know exactly where to look for one. That means extension cords need to be put in the same place every time.
This rule is true for all your belongings.
Organize by type. Group in containers, and label if possible.
Assign them a handy, accessible place near where you usually use the items.
You don't keep your pantyhose in the kitchen cupboard do you? So, by the same reasoning, you shouldn't keep your stationery in your walk-in closet, either.
5 Maintain Your Systems.
Set aside a few minutes each day for returning things to their proper place.
Then plow through paperwork, attack the house one room at the time and finish up with the car.
This may not make you master of your universe. But it's the closest you'll come in this life.
