4 Simple Steps to Home Organization

How to Organize Desks, Closets, and Cabinets Anywhere in the House

May 21, 2009

Learn the four essential steps to eliminating clutter in any area of the home and keeping it organized for good.

Organizing a home seems like a huge task, but it can be done by focusing on areas of the house and tackling them one at a time.

Home Organization Made Easy

Organizing any area of the house - whether it is the home office, the kitchen, or the bathroom - follows the same 4-step pattern. People must:

Step 1: Clear Everything out of the Area

Simply rearranging items and calling it "organization" will not help. The problem behind clutter is that there are too many things in a space that is too small. Forgotten, broken, or unused items get shoved to the backs of closets and drawers; the only way to get rid of them is to clear out everything.

Step 2: Create "Keep" and "Toss" Piles

Now that you know what you have, it's time to start getting rid of the things you don't need. Get rid of anything that you haven't used in a while, doesn't currently work, or you didn't know you had before now. If you didn't need it before, you won't need it in the future. If you like, you can further organize your "toss" pile into throw-away items versus items to donate or sell.

Step 3: Organize the "Keep" Pile

This is the point at which people should give themselves a good pat on the back. Overcoming pack rat syndrome is more than half the battle for most people trying to get and stay organized. They can now evaluate their much smaller "keep" pile, grouping items by functionality and planning out the best space for them. Be prepared to move items to other locations in the house if they don't actually belong in the area you're currently organizing.

Step 4: Rearrange Items in Their Proper Places

With all items already arranged into groups, it should be easy to informally map out a plan of where everything should go. Put items used most often in the most accessible locations, keeping lesser-used items toward the back. It will probably be necessary to buy some specialized storage bins, racks, or containers once you've evaluated your storage needs for a particular area.

The Essential Rule for Staying Organized

Re-train family members to live by the 2-minute rule: if something will take less than two minutes to do, don't put it off. Do it now. For example, instead of taking off your coat and draping it over the sofa upon coming home, learn to immediately hang it on the coat rack. Most minor tasks like this only take seconds to do, and they make a big difference in maintaining the organization you've worked so hard for.

With determination and a little time, any area in the house can be organized in four steps. Perhaps more important than the act of organizing itself is learning to live by a 2-minute rule of cleanliness that will encourage a clutter-free home.

The copyright of the article 4 Simple Steps to Home Organization in Home Organization is owned by Jenny Evans. Permission to republish 4 Simple Steps to Home Organization in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.