My Whole House is Disorganized...Where Do I Start?

It doesn’t take long to let clutter take over your house. Clutter then becomes disorganization which leaves you feeling overwhelmed. Just as the clutter didn’t happen overnight, organizing and de-cluttering your house won’t happen overnight either. It will work best if you make a plan of how to organize the house.

Try walking through your house, taking notes of what needs to be organized and picked up in each room. Once you’ve created your list, keep it handy and as you complete things make sure to cross it off your list. Set a goal of accomplishing at least one thing on the list a day. You’ll be surprised how fast it goes.

Don’t start with the biggest mess first, instead pick a smaller area to work on. For instance start with a closet first. Start by going through the items there and getting rid of the things you don’t need. If you don’t have time for a yard sale then donate the items or toss them. If you still find yourself lacking in space make a note to pick up some storage unit that will provide you with more room.

You might find that a certain area takes you more than one day. Don’t let that overwhelm you, just keep plugging along until it’s done. It’s important to keep working on the list and crossing items off as you accomplish them. Before long you’ll have the list completed and once you’ve accomplished that it’s time to keep it organized.

Now that you’ve organized everything and your house is back to being de-cluttered it’s important that you take action every day to keep it this way. Don’t tell yourself that you’ll do it later because that’s how the clutter takes control again. If you see something that doesn’t belong in a certain place, take care of it. If you don’t want to spend all day every day constantly taking and putting things back in their proper place another option is to place a box or basket in a designated area; once you fill up the box with items that need to be placed in their proper homes, simply take care of them.

Make sure that you bring your family on board with you in keeping the house organized. Set up a schedule and place it somewhere that everyone can see it. Choose an area of the house to get a thorough cleaning one day a week. It takes several weeks to get in the habit of doing something so don’t get frustrated if your family is forgetting to put things away at first. Simply remind them but don’t be a nag about it.

By assigning each family member a specific area of the house as their responsibility in keeping it organized, you’ll find that it’s easier to keep the house organized and de-cluttered. It can be as simple as each family member taking a walk through of their assigned room and making sure everything is in its place.