***Home Organization Tips Everyone Can Use

In a truly well organized home, everyone pitches in to keep things neat and tidy. If your home is feeling cluttered, or if cleaning day is stressing you out, here are some simple home organization tips that everyone can use.

To get started, you will need to determine how much time you want everyone to devote to cleaning each day, or do you want to dedicate a certain day of the week to cleaning instead?

Everything should have a place of its own and everything should be put away if it is not in use. While this can seem like a time consuming practice, it ends up saving you time in the long run.

Another important organizational step is to purge your home of as much clutter as possible. When there is no clutter it makes cleaning less stressful, and it takes less time to clean.

Another tip for people who live in two story houses is the “basket method.” There should be a basket for each room upstairs. In most homes, especially homes with children, a lot of the items that belong in bedrooms end up downstairs. Place the baskets somewhere at the base of the stairs. So when you find an object that belongs on the second floor, just put in the appropriate basket. Once the baskets are full, then bring them upstairs and put away everything.

Paper clutter is one of obstacles that every household deals with every single day. As soon as the mail arrives, or the children come home from school, or your partner comes home from work, they all have papers that need to be sorted. Where in your home does this pile start to grow? Maybe it’s the kitchen counter. The stack seems to use fertilizer because it grows so quickly right before your eyes. After a week, you can predict the pile is now 1-2 inches higher. The longer you wait to put every piece of paper in its location, the higher the pile grows, and pretty soon one pile quickly turn into two piles of paper.

Now you have an organizational nightmare with piles of paper. It would help to take notice where the pile of paper grows in your home and make it a priority to spend 30 minutes once a week, or 10 minutes each day sorting everything in the paper pile. Instead of looking at a pile of papers, try purchasing a low basket. Each day after you have gone through that day’s paper put it in the new paper basket.

There is paper clutter, and there is obvious regular, old clutter which is everywhere you turn your head. But with the right techniques, you can whip your home into shape and shave time off your cleaning routine. Make sure everything has a place and put it back every time you’re done with it. Storage containers will come into play with this type of organization. Clutter will require some form of storage that is appropriate for the clutter. The final task of organizing unattractive, old clutter is listing what is inside each container, so it will be easy for you to find what you need.

Sharing the chores is a terrific way to get the job done. Write to do list that outlines what chores must be completed each day of the week. Then decide if you are going to spend 10 minutes each day working on one of the tasks.

The other list method is very similar except that you spend 30 minutes each day working on one of the tasks. This is a win-win method of cleaning. Start by getting a blank card for each month of the year. Then write all the tasks that need to be completed within one of the days available. Place these monthly lists where the entire family can see them. That way each family member can take responsibility for a particular task. This gets the whole family working together to help make their home cleaner.

If you don’t take control of the clutter and organization of your home, you will find yourself in awkward situations. For example, let’s say you find out that you are going to have unexpected company stop by in 30 minutes. It is time to start hiding all your clutter, stress about cleaning the bathroom, stress about cleaning the kitchen and the room where you plan to visit. This is wasted cleaning time that could be better spent taking control of your home’s clutter and organizing each room. You will find that you enjoy home more, and you will be ready for company at a moment’s notice. A clean home is a happy home.