So the decorations are put away (in an orderly and tidy fashion of course!) and the resolutions have been made. Every year we all have big plans for what we want to accomplish in the coming year – losing weight, spending more time playing with our children, keeping the house in order and the list goes on. Sadly, by about the third week of January (now!) we are fully entrenched in our old routine and all of our good intentions have gone by the wayside. Do not despair! By following a few basic organizational principles you can, at the very least, keep your home in order.
#1 – Clear out the clutter
Clearing out the clutter means getting rid of anything that is extraneous and unnecessary. Be ruthless about what you really need and what truly matters to you and stay on top of it – clutter can grow very quickly!
#2 – Have a home for everything
The number one reason for clutter is that there isn’t a set place for things. Your belongings are a lot more likely to end up back where they belong if there is a clearly designated storage area for them. For example, keep a basket near the front door for keys, ipods, loose change and put these items in it EVERY time you come home.
#3 – Keep like with like
Whether it is toys, items of clothing, kitchen appliances or a stack of books keep things that are similar together. If anything new is brought home (see Rule #5) you will know exactly where to put it and it won’t end up in Neverland to be dealt with later.
#4 – Handle the paper as it comes in to your home
Be it a bill (put those on your husband’s pile!), a flyer or a letter from your child’s school -only handle it once. Deal with paper immediately! If it is something that requires future action, write it down in your calendar so you know when it is due or have a file of pending items that you go through on a weekly basis.
The only exception to this is magazines. Put them on your coffee or night side table – where ever you are planning on enjoying them. Once you have read the magazine either recycle it or clip out the articles of interest and put them in the binder or file it relates to (that is a whole other post so stay tuned!).
Whatever you do with paper DO NOT pile it on your desk or on your kitchen counter and wait to deal with it – deadlines may be missed. If the pile gets out of control you are more inclined to put off dealing with it. Save yourself the hassle of having to spend hours finally tackling the pile and wasting money on late charges – develop a system and stick with it.
#5 – One in, one out
Need we say more? Next time you pick up a great new black turtleneck get rid of the tattered old one you have had for a bazillion years – no matter how comfortable it is!!! Make sure everyone in your family is following this rule – it is the biggest controller of clutter.
The bottom line is that to keep your home organized for 2008 all you need to do is keep only what you need and truly love – everything else is extraneous. That means husbands and kids stay, ratty old sweatpants go!
Julie and Fiona are home organization experts and regular contributors to Ask urbanmoms.ca. Share your comments, questions and suggestions below, in commments.
No wonder my house is a mess, I do not follow any of these. I need some serious clutter adjustment. I’m jsut so overwhelmed with bad clutter management I am not sure where to start.
I do have a pile of papers on my kitchen counter, but that’s because it works for me. I bring the mail in every day and go through my son’s backpack (next year I’ll have two kids in school so this may change…) for papers, etc, and whatever needs to be dealt with now, I do that after the kids are in bed. Anything else can go on the kitchen pile. Then every weekend, I go through the pile and sort and clean up the pile – move things to files, pass info to my husband, pay bills, put artwork in my kids’ art binders, etc. So it may look really messy on Friday, but by Sunday evening, it’s all clear and I have the space to start over again.
You are advised these days to NOT store your car keys near the front door, maybe a hook in the kitchen most people go there first anyway….
I can’t wait to hear more about what to do with all of the recipes and articles clipped from magazines before they make their way to recycling. I’ve amassed hundreds (thousands?) of recipes and originally tried to put them in a binder, but the binder is overflowing, and I get stuck when a recipe article doesn’t fall into a clear category such as “fish” or “side dishes” but rather follows a theme like “cooking with basil” where the recipes can be used for different courses…The recipes now end up in a folder on top of the overflowing binder and it’s a hazard to even attempt to browse through them, risking injury to anyone in the vicinity!
Help!
Thanks,
Robin