People move into a new home with the best intentions to keep it organized. It often isn’t long before clutter from school papers, mail, toys, clothes, and other everyday items seem to take on a life of their own and homeowners see small piles everywhere they look. To declutter effectively, home organization experts recommend tackling one room at a time and using a unique approach depending on the challenges of the room and the clutter it contains.
Bathroom
To prevent clutter from accumulating in the first place, homeowners should go through their bathroom medicine cabinet and linen closet at least every six months. The organization session is the perfect time to throw away expired products and prescriptions and straighten everything left behind.
Bedrooms
The bedroom is one place people retreat when they need peaceful time to themselves. Unfortunately, clutter and mess can only add stress and make it difficult to relax. Clearing off every surface in a bedroom, even the nightstand, is the best way to prevent clutter from taking over the bedroom. Instead of allowing papers to stack up, homeowners should consider scanning and storing them digitally.
Garage
The garage can quickly become the most cluttered part of a home. Considering that people often put items in the garage they don’t know what else to do with, it’s easy to understand why. Fortunately, a pegboard can make keeping the garage organized a much simpler task. It makes an excellent solution for hanging tools and ensuring that the homeowner knows just where to find them when needed. Purchasing a few small bins allows homeowners to sort nails, screws, and other small parts according to size and place them right by the pegboard.
Kitchen
Buying food, drinks, condiments, or spices and then finding the identical item in the kitchen a few weeks later is a common yet frustrating experience. One way to avoid this is to place food items such as cereal in see-through containers to provide a visual reminder of when to replace it. Putting away food items by group can also help homeowners stay more organized in the kitchen.
When it comes to food preparation items such as spatulas and can openers, less is more. It just takes up more room and creates more work by having to wash and dry multiple versions of the same item.
Living Room
A look around the typical American living room will reveal stacks of papers, batteries, phone chargers, television remotes, and many other modern items. While it’s best to file the papers electronically, other items can go inside of decorative bins and guests will be none the wiser for it. Placing a matching cover on top of the bin can be especially useful to make sure that it blends in with the rest of the décor in the living room.
Apply the In and Out Rule
When bringing a new item into the home such as clothing, getting rid of at least one existing item helps to get a handle on clutter before it starts. Organizational experts refer to this as the in and out rule.
Following these tips might not come naturally at first but living in a clutter-free home should give any homeowner the incentive to turn them into habits.
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