Streamline Your Space: 16 Easy Home Organization Hacks
These past few weeks, I’ve started focusing once again on easy home organization hacks and tidiness. After having my third child, who is now a full-blown toddler, I allowed my house to be “let go” temporarily. My home hasn’t been a total disaster, but I’ve allowed things to slide more than usual. This is a busy season of life during which I needed to focus more on being present with my family than having a spotless home.
True balance comes from various priorities being out of balance for temporary periods of time.
If you’re in a busy season of life and you can’t keep up with your household, give yourself grace. Loving and being there for your family must take precedence over having a perfectly aesthetic home.
With that said, tidiness and home organization help my personal mental load, and I find a messy home to be stressful. While I’m still in a season of life where tidiness and organization are still challenging, I’m committed to making small steps again to bring everything back into order.
As I’ve been working through my house, here are some easy home organization hacks I’ve been implementing in my household that are helping me keep up with the clutter and chaos of life!
16 Easy Home Organization Hacks
1). Take on a decluttering challenge. When I went on my first decluttering journey, a decluttering challenge was one of the first things I did to get my home under control. I started by getting rid of one item on the first day of the challenge. Then I got rid of two items on the 2nd day, three on the 3rd day, four on the 4th day, and so on…for 30 days. This is a great way to kickstart your decluttering journey!
2). Start being intentional. Be mindful about what you purchase and what you choose to keep. Being more intentional about purchases will also save you lots of money. For example, I will often put things in my Amazon cart and let it sit there for a day or two before purchasing. This simple act makes me more conscious of whether I truly need the item or if I’m simply being impulsive. Most of the time, I forget about the item altogether!
Even with gifts, be very intentional about what you choose to keep. I understand the guilt of giving away a gift, but donate it if you aren’t using it so someone else can enjoy it.
3). Be ruthless in your decluttering. When going through drawers and closets, consider whether you use everything you are storing. Have you used it in the last 6 months? Or in the last year? If the answer is no, you probably don’t need it anymore. Give yourself permission to buy it again if you find you need it in another season of life.
Create Systems
4). Create “stations” in your home. For example, you can create a play space for your children, a command center for your mail and bills, a homework station, or an education or craft center. Carving out a space for a specific activity helps you stay more organized, and it’s easier for things in your house to find a permanent home.
5). Label your bins and containers. Labeling is a powerful tool that communicates to everyone in your household that items have a home. For instance, my children used to say they couldn’t clean up the play room because they didn’t know where their toys went. In response, I started labeling their bins so everyone knows where their toys go. Even young children can start to recognize the labeled words and put things away in an orderly fashion.
6). Create donation stations. If possible, have a donation box or bag in every closet of your home. Once your donation station is full, make sure it makes its way to the donation center of your choice.
7). Create “holding” stations. A holding station can be a simple decorative basket where random things go that haven’t been put away yet. At the end of the day, pull these baskets and put things away where they go. You can even make it an evening family ritual.
Plan and Be Intentional in Your Home Organization
8). Schedule time on your calendar for regular organization maintenance. Find a time once per week or every other week to maintain some of the spaces you’ve intentionally organized. This will go a long way to keeping things in the appropriate order.
9). Schedule regular tidy-ups throughout the day or at the end of the day. Set your timer for 10 minutes for tidy-ups throughout the day or for the family at the end of the day. Just a few minutes can go a long way to maintaining the organization of your home.
10). Schedule time each week to work on paper clutter. With the amount of paper clutter we accumulate each week, I have to schedule time frequently to deal with it. For more tips on paper clutter, check out my blog: 6 Steps to Paper Clutter Organization.
11). Schedule time for regular decluttering purges. Create a system in which you have regular check-ins with your home to see if you need to be more aggressive with decluttering. For some, this may look like decluttering one thing per day from your home. For others, you may need to schedule one day per month to assess items for decluttering. Do what works best for you but be consistent.
12). Take time before bed to clean up your home. Tidy up the living room, put things away, and make sure the dishes are done and the sinks are clean. These little tidy-ups in the evening can go a long way in terms of maintenance for you and your family.
General Cleaning Hacks
13). Make your bed each morning. I know it’s cliché but making your bed helps you feel as though you’ve accomplished something first thing in the morning. It gives you one small win; and once you have one small win, the next one is easier.
14). Clean off your surfaces throughout the day. Unfortunately, our flat surfaces, such as tables, counters, and islands are a magnet for everything not put away. Go through your home a few times throughout the day (if you’re at home) and clean them off. If you’re not at home during the day, make sure everything on your counters is put away before bed.
15). Don’t store anything on the floor. Things that may inadvertently end up on the floor are magazines, books, bags, or backpacks. Even if the floor is only a temporary holding space, our home immediately looks messy when things land on the floor. Keeping things off the floor will make your house look instantly better.
16). Wipe down your sinks before you go to bed. Make sure the dishes are done and the dishwasher is running while you sleep. Wipe out your kitchen and bathroom sinks and clear countertops so everything looks more tidy when you get up in the morning.
I hope these easy home organization hacks serve as valuable tools in your pursuit of more household order and tranquility! Always bear in mind that we’re all striving to navigate life’s chaos with more grace and efficiency.