Calm The Chaos: Home Organization

from LAKElife Magazine - August 2022

by The Papers Inc.

Catfish Craze

Calm the Chaos

BY ORGANIZING YOUR HOME

by Shelley Galbreath

“Your home is living space, not storage space.”

–Francine Jay a.k.a Miss Minimalist

What if we could just live and relax in our homes instead of constantly picking up clutter and getting lost in the chaos of stuff? Decluttering and organizing the home is the best way to move out of daily chaos and into calm control, simplifying home life. Not sure where to start? Here’s a step-by-step schedule to get the house decluttered and organized, room-by-room, and task-bytask.

Plan

Visit any organizational website and the first step listed is to have a plan of attack. Haphazard picking up and moving things from room to room is not the solution. Instead, take the time to walk through each room in the house opening cupboards and drawers, pantries and closets, and survey the area. Make a list of the areas to be tackled first.

Prioritize

Once you’ve made your list, don’t be overwhelmed. Consider which areas are the ‘worst,’... and pick one to tackle first. The junk drawer/junk counter is a wonderful place to begin, as is the closet or the pantry.

Visualize

When organizing your home, it is immensely helpful to have inspiration and a vision of what you hope to achieve. The Internet is a wonderful place to look for an image that will both motivate and guide. Magazine articles and photos, as well as organizational books like The Home Edit, by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, are also great resources.

Remove

This step can be the most challenging. Before organizing, though, everything must be removed from the area. This way, the area can be swept, cleaned, painted, etc. before sorted items are returned to the space.

Purge

Now it is time to purge. Lori Bull, certified professional organizer, and owner of Easy Organizing Solutions, begins the purge with five boxes: relocate, keep, toss, donate, and sell. Anything that is expired, broken, unused or unworn for over a year, should be sorted into one of these boxes and purged. “When decluttering and organizing, everything needs a home,” writes Bull. Purged items should be taken to a suitable location such as the garage.

Sort

Once purging is complete, it is time to sort and group the remaining items into groups with similar items, such as canned soup goes in one pile, cereal boxes in another, condiments and dressings in a third, and so on.

Choose

Now it is time to choose the containers, sorters, racks, trays, and other organization tools needed for the space. Measurements may need to be taken. It is important to choose solutions that maximize space, fit the area, and provide as much access to the items as possible.

Label

While you may think labeling is for organizing nerds, Shearer and Teplin from The Home Edit believe when items are labeled, they stay where they belong, and the organizational system is successfully maintained. Check out The Home Edit labels at thehomeedit.com/ custom-labels or create your own. The important thing to remember is to really take the time to label everything.

Arrange

After everything is in place and labeled, arrange items in the newly organized space. You might need to adjust and play around with different configurations a few times until you have everything feeling exactly right. No matter the project, organizers agree it’s best to start small—the junk drawer, under the sink, or the entryway. Anything else can be too intimidating. If this all sounds like something just too intimidating to tackle, why not contact a local organizer or a design and installation company? Most, if not all, offer a free initial consultation. There’s also a plethora of magazines, books, websites, and local organizing pros to help you calm the chaos and reclaim your home’s living space. So, go ahead. Get organized.