Happy New Year all! I know some might be tired of hearing all about everyone’s BIG New Year goals and resolutions, but I’m completely on board! I love the beginning of the year because it’s like a refresh button that I generally love and look forward to! One of my favorite ways to begin the new year refresh is with a clean and organized home! Don’t get me wrong I’m pretty OCD throughout the year, but I’m guilty of letting stuff go into closets and drawers and forgetting about them. Click here to read my detailed post on how I organized my master closet.
My eye opener this year was after Christmas (really every year after Christmas once we had 3 children ) we were coming home with a car full of presents and I was thinking to myself, where are we going to put all this stuff?! And then I told myself next year we aren’t going to do this again! Next year, the kids will only get experience type gifts and just a very small amount of toys. (We will see if I can get grandparents on board). The day after we got home from the holidays, I HAD to do something! Does clutter give anyone else anxiety?! It was a little tough to get everyone on board, but we all came to an agreement (Cookies may have been used as bribe) that we were going to clean and do some serious purging! Today I will share my easy tips on how to get your home organized for the new year…
How to get your Home Organized–Ask yourself these 5 questions:
You’re going to want to remember these next 5 questions as they will be the determining factors as you purge and get your home organized and clutter free.
- Do I NEED this? Do I use it all the time or wear it every few weeks? Of course, I have a special occasion and seasonal area in closet for dresses that are only worn yearly and swimsuits that I typically only use for summer time, but even then I look at those items and determine if there are only a few suits I really love and wear over and over again, and the rest can go. In other areas of my home, I ask myself, have I used this kitchen utensil/appliance much over the last 6 months?
- Do I absolutely LOVE it? Does this item make me truly HAPPY? A lot of times I will find I don’t love the clothing or don’t feel confident in it, and so it has to go. Maybe it will make someone else happy. I do hold on to sentimental items, of course, and try to store those in my attic in labeled bins. I even save my kid’s very best artwork from the entire school year and label that and put in attic. I also ask my kids to choose their absolute favorite toys that they cannot live without, then with the pile that is remaining of things that didn’t make the cut, we start the process of deciding what to donate and make another child happy. They feel good about it and so do I!
- When was the last time I used/wore this? If it’s been 6 months or longer, I usually decide I don’t need it.
- If I keep, how often will I use/wear it again? Make sure you have an idea, otherwise it may be time to let it go. And believe me, I have several pairs of jeans that I am hoping and wishing I can fit into again some day, but let’s be honest, if I do fit back into them , the style/cut or wash of the jeans is probably not going to be my favorite anymore and it’s best to just let them go.
- Do I have a similar item that serves the same purpose? Do I need 3 cheese graters taking up precious drawer space in my kitchen? No, I don’t and my world will not end if I don’t have all three! Haha! This goes for my kids’ toys as well. I find they have several very similar toys that all do the same thing, so I always encourage them to consolidate (or I do it when they are at school for them). We recently donated several of my son’s dump trucks. He doesn’t need or play with all of them, so one will do. They really seem to play and focus better in our play room with LESS toys as crazy as that may sound!
Click here to read my post on how I organized my pantry and bathroom in more detail. I HIGHLY encourage asking yourself these questions when you are purchasing new items too! I know at the store everything is shiny and pretty but think if it will be useful to you in a month or two. By doing so, not only will you notice a clutter free home, but you also might save money!
How to get your Home Organized–Grab 4 boxes and get busy:
In addition to asking myself these 5 questions , I make sure to have 4 baskets, boxes or whatever you have lying around the house with me as I begin. One being a “keep” box, one being a “donate” bin, one being a “trash” box and one possibly being a “sell” bin if you are up for that.
- Keep – I HIGHLY recommend doing a keep bin so when you are pulling everything out of their hidden spots, it completely clears the space. After doing this for each area, you’ll do a second observation of how much you are planning to keep! You might be able to get rid of a little more at the end if you see you have a very full basket! Even if you are keeping it – I like seeing the space completely clear so I’m starting with a fresh start and can put it back a better, more compact way. I get out my swiffer duster cloth and dust the area while it’s empty too.
- Donate – If you are deciding to discard something and you see that it has more life left in it and in decent shape, I donate it. I always like to donate anything I can because unfortunately there are some that are not as fortunate. You can google local charities and I always like to see what group can benefit from certain products the most!
- Trash--I can’t tell you how much trash is hiding everywhere. In my pantry, expired or stale food or just the product packaging alone that takes up so much space. In my closet, missing socks, stained clothing, or shopping boxes/bags that need to be thrown away in order to keep the clutter away! The playroom houses the most trash probably, as they lose pieces of a set or parts of a board game and then it’s useless. My favorite is when my kids break something and they just put it back in their toy bin and hope no one will notice. It is time to go in the recycle bin or trash can!
- Sell–Are you someone who likes to make extra cash from selling your used items? I have done this for furniture in my home , all 3 baby cribs, nice handbags and had great experiences each time. I only do this with very good condition items. Remember to use caution when meeting people from any of these sites. Never go alone and never accept wire transfers or checks, and all that good stuff. There are tons of places to do this, from Facebook Marketplace, Craig’s List, or Poshmark for clothing items. And don’t forget about eBay as well!
Cleaning your whole house doesn’t have to happen all in one weekend. I would start with the 1 area that bothers you the most or the room you spend the most time in, and then proceed from there. But, set a date of when you want it done by, or you will easily get sidetracked and never finish the house. I personally like to give myself 4-5 days per room.
How to get your Home Organized–Here are a few things I like to purge as I clean room by room:
- Bedroom/Closet – Clothing, shoes that don’t fit or are uncomfortable, old accessories, empty shoe boxes, extra blankets or old mismatched sheets that we don’t need. Baby clothes and kid clothes that are too small.
- Bathroom – Unused beauty products, old towels that can be used as a rag, old hair brushes/combs, any expired beauty products, excessive bath toys, and etc. I always go through my makeup and throw away expired items and clean my makeup brushes while I’m at it too.
- Kitchen – Mismatched Tupperware is a BIG one for me, broken dishes, old pots and pans, expired food or baking supplies, cookbooks that I never read, unused small appliances like the quesadilla maker I haven’t got out in 10 years and more. I also like to clean out and wipe down the fridge/freezer.
- Playroom – We have a similar cube system that helps tremendously in controlling the toy situation. Outgrown toys, broken toys, old books and anything we have duplicates of. If we get any duplicate toys as a gift, I keep them in our birthday gift closet to give to another child for another bday party sometime in the future.
- Office – Shred unused documents if not necessary, scan any documents that you need, move important files up to the attic, get rid of excessive cords and chargers, useless books, and junk mail.
How to get your Home Organized–Use Labeled Baskets and Bins.
Once you have purged everything you can possibly purge, it is a GREAT idea to use bins and baskets and even a labelmaker (I really like this one) so that all of the items you keep have a home. As you can see in almost all of my home organization images, we have baskets/bins and labels on almost everything! There is a good reason for that…it creates a system to help keep your home better organized day after day, and year after year.
- Bins and baskets creates a home for similar or like items. I love having all of my “skin” items in one basket, and another for all of my “hair products” in our bathroom. Same for my pantry..all crackers go in one basket, all pasta goes in another, and so on. Even our medicine cabinet has labels.
- It makes cleaning up and putting away easier when you know EXACTLY where to put the item. Our playroom bins are labeled and 2 of our kids cannot read yet, but either myself or our oldest child helps direct them on which toy goes in which bin. We have bins labeled: Dress Up, Trucks, Dolls, Blocks and so on.
- When the basket or bin gets close to full again, it is a good signal to you that it may be time for another purge.
Shop Handy Labels (a MUST when organizing bins):
Shop Bins and Baskets (These are the pillar of creating systems for where like items go):
Shop Large Organization Systems (For your garage, playroom (FOR SURE) or closet):
Shop Cabinet Organizers & Spacesavers (These free up so much space in my cabinets and allow for better use of the cabinet):
Shop Drawer Organizers ( I am really impressed how much adding these to several of my drawers has helped):
Now is the perfect time to get to cleaning and purging! My article “How to get your Home Organized” is meant to motivate and help you, not stress you out as you think about how much needs to be done. Take it day by day and focus on ONLY 1 room at a time, so you don’t get overwhelmed. I hope these tips can be useful to you! My family and I were able to donate multiple bags of unused products, it felt so great to get rid of the surplus and to help others in need! I hope everyone has a great year full of happiness! Thanks for reading..if you enjoyed this article, subscribe here! If you have anything that you’d like to see a blog post about in 2019 please feel free to drop a comment below!
