The Serene Home: Strategies for Living an Organized Life

A clean, peaceful home isn’t a fairytale; it’s a matter of mindset and commitment.

Don’t expect to get everything done in one day. Focus on one area of the house at a time, completing it to satisfaction so that you can check it off your list as a task well done. (New Africa/Shutterstock)

Take control of your surroundings. Organization is a must for getting more done with less stress and creating a happier life overall. It all starts with the home.

Your house doesn’t have to appear messy to be disorganized—hidden clutter can be even worse. Out of sight, out of mind will eventually creep out of the drawers and closets in which it’s hidden, often just minutes before friends or family arrive for a dinner party, leading to more clutter, chaos, procrastination, and ultimately, time-management issues.

We’re spending more time in our homes than ever, so let’s show them who’s boss.

Organizing is highly satisfying and even therapeutic, but how do you convince the rest of the family? (Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock)

Bins Buddies

Paring down is one of the hardest steps, but it makes the rest of your organization easier. Cleaning out may be all you need to do in order to transform an overstuffed closet or the overflowing kitchen junk drawer from havoc to happiness.

Start by getting out four bins or baskets and labeling them as keep, donate, garbage, or maybe. Keep obviously goes back in the closet. Donate goes to your favorite charity. Garbage goes out, no matter how hard that may be. The maybe bin gets kept for three to six months until you decide if the items are ultimately keepers, should be donated, or are destined for the trash can.

Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today is a motto to live by, and it will prevent small things from compiling into larger ones later on. (Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock)

Laser Focus and Commitment

Ignore any other messes in the house as you work on one area at a time. This may seem counterproductive, but it’s best to work in small, focused, effective chunks. Complete one area, then do another. The one exception to this rule is the trick of “never leaving a room empty-handed,” that is, take something that doesn’t belong in that room to its proper home every time you exit.

Don’t expect to get everything done in one day. You may even want to make a list, which allows you to choose what to focus on—subject to your mood and how much time you’ve set aside. It also gives the great satisfaction of being able to draw a line through a task after a job well done.

After you’ve completed an area—a closet, for example—make a habit of putting things away as soon as you’ve used them, with no exceptions. Procrastination is a bad word and what probably got you into this mess (pun intended) in the first place.

Baskets add texture and warmth to a closet, cubed storage units, or shelves because they organize everything from sweaters to craft supplies. (Kostikova Natalia/Shutterstock)

Storage Accessories

Baskets add texture and warmth to a closet, cubed storage units, or shelves because they organize everything from sweaters to craft supplies. This also applies to fabric bins (or “cubed storage”).

For out-of-sight areas, such as under the bathroom and kitchen sinks, consider less-expensive clear plastic bins and stacking plastic drawers. Open-faced plastic stacking pantry bins work well to organize large kitchen cabinets, as well as in the laundry room, garage, workout room, kids’ closets, and anywhere else you store easy-to-reach items.

We all know that drawer organizer trays and mini-bins can turn a messy bathroom make-up drawer into a department store-worthy display, but did you ever think of using them to organize the children’s art supplies, video games and controllers, or action figures in drawers? Think outside the bin! The ultimate organizer for long-term storage, such as holiday décor, is a large plastic tub (or “tote”). Medium-sized versions are another great way to store the children’s toys. An inexpensive trash can makes great storage for holiday wrapping paper and other vertical items.

Hooks, hangers, shoe racks, closet organization systems, home office paper and media organizers, and food storage containers need to be organized. The list is big, but if your budget isn’t, visit the local dollar store for tons of cheap tools to help you get—and stay—organized. If your budget is really tight, repurpose old shoe boxes to organize socks, extra makeup, toiletries, and other unruly items in a drawer; wrap them in festive paper to make them more attractive.

Designating a tote, chest, drawer, or bin for the children's toys will help keep the house clean and teach them organization skills at the same time. (Africa Studio/Shutterstock)

The Family That Cleans Together ...

Organizing is highly satisfying and even therapeutic, but how do you convince the rest of the family? For young children, you may want to designate a play space with a cozy, soft rug or ergonomic padding; use a tote as a toy chest as a great way to start them young. Allocate a junk drawer or bin (that will be sorted out when it starts to get overly full), or, if you’ve got the space, give each person their own miscellaneous bin, perhaps in a hallway linen closet. Label all the bins and baskets so that there’s no confusion as to what goes where.

Consider a family command center, centered around a whiteboard as a reminder of deadlines and activities—time management is as important as space management—and a place to leave each other notes. Perhaps at the kitchen breakfast bar where the kids pick up their packed school lunch every morning. Set up a family meeting and chores schedule; offer incentives such as pizza or movie night or working off a new video game. Most importantly, make everyone feel as though they’re part of a team.

Organized Attitude

Routines, no matter how inconsequential they may seem, help create an overall pattern of organization.

Jot Notes

Organized people don’t keep everything in their heads, even if they may seem to. If you want to remember something, write it down or note it in your calendar. Notes reduce stress and free up your thoughts.

The ‘P’ Word: Procrastination

Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today is a motto to live by. Whether it’s a do-it-yourself repair (which always seems to get bigger if you ignore it) to simply hanging up the day’s clothes, a do-it-right-now attitude is a critical key to organizational success.

Periodic Cleanse

Don’t wait until the house becomes claustrophobic again. Take a moment once a month to look over what you do and don’t need, whether it’s clothing you’re tired of and should donate or that bottle of car oil with a few drops in the bottom that you “just might need.” Be ruthless.