Getting Organized When You’re a Hoarder Like Me
When we first moved into our home forever and a day ago, I thought we had so much space. Boy was a wrong. Two kids and 9 years later, I have come to terms that I am a pack rat. I get so frustrated when it comes time to purge. I mean, what am I going to do with all this stuff that we have accumulated over the years? It’s a daunting task. But it’s time to weed through all of the unneccessary things and get this house organized.
If you think getting your house organized will happen over night, you are terribly wrong. Home organization is a step-by-step process. It’s the only way for it to be long term. It may take you more than day. Heck, it may take you weeks to get everything manageable. But once you do, staying organized will be easier.
1. Ask for help. Get the whole family involved. Have a mother-in-law that likes to clean like I do? Call her up and have her come over and help. If everyone pitches in, especially the kids, they will learn a thing or two about controlling clutter and messes in their own lives.
2. Start with high traffic areas. In our house that would be the living room and kitchen. After all, they are the two most used rooms in the house. Before moving onto another room, make sure you have everything set up just the way you like it.
3. Use storage containers. I am partial to baskets when it comes to storage containers. Not only are they pretty but they are functional. I choose baskets that match the decor in the room so that no one would even notice they are being used for storage. I especially like using a large basket to store blankets in the winter. When it comes to the kids toys, I like to use plastic shoe boxes to hold games, play sets, and LEGOs.
4. Divide items into categories. When ever I am forced to purge, I always have piles: Keep, Trash, and Give Away. Usually my keep pile is larger than the others but I am working on that one! I have gotten better in letting go of things especially when they aren’t my own! The boys’ clothes and toys that are in good condition are either donated or consigned at the next consignment sale.
5. Remove everything from drawers and cabinets. Pull everything out! It may seem like a time-consuming process but it helps me when I am working with an empty space. When you keep everything jammed in the drawer, you just push things around instead of actually cleaning out.
6. Label your containers. I will admit that there have been times that I threw things into a bin and forget they were there. Out of sight, out of mind! Use tape and a permanent marker to identify the contents of your storage containers so this doesn’t happen to you.
Organizing your entire home may take a lot of time. But, once it’s done, returning everything you use to its proper place will help maintain a level of organization!
Looking for more organizing tips? Make sure you follow my Cleaning and Organizing Pinterest Board. Don’t forget to pin these Home Organization Tips so you can control the clutter!
What a great article. I would love to invite you to share your post at http://howtogetorganizedathome.com/monday-madness-january-5th/ I think our readers would love it too.
Thank you for the ideas… and the encouragement to get at a difficult job… it is so nice when the organizing is done… and the maintaining is so very important.
Ha ha – I do the three pile thing too when trying to get organized. We just recently made an attempt at organizing before we moved so we wouldn’t move unnecessary stuff. However, we still ended up with some things that we could greatly do without, though. So needless to say we’re still “organizing”. I visited you from the Teaching What is Good link up!
These are some great tips! I’m in the spot you were 9 years ago in a new home with our young family and feeling like we have space to spare! I’ll have to remember not to collect too much 🙂
Fabulous tips!
I find that when it comes to my kids’ belongings, it’s really hard to decide what to throw away/donate/keep. They naturally want to keep everything, so I need to go through the process on my own. Also, being budget-conscious I’m always concerned I’ll donate or toss something we’ll need later on.
I got a label maker for Christmas and it’s my NEW best friend. I want to label EVERYTHING!
Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
What wonderful tips! I am such a hoarder but at the same time have OCD believe it or not. Things need to be in there place but I don’t have the room for a lot of my things. LOL Yes, I laugh at my predicament often when I really want to cry. With the tips you have written about I hope to make 2015 a less messy year! 😉
Stopping by from the SHINE Blog Hop! Wishing you a beautiful week!
Much Love,
Lysa xx
Love the title of this post! I am a recovering hoarder, although I might be at the exact opposite side of the spectrum now, throwing away anything and everything I see 🙂 I probably should look for some balance between the two!
Oh, I can totally relate to that first photo! The hardest part of organization for us is just putting things back where they belong in a timely manner. With 7 of us, if we each leave a couple of things out, it can look really cluttered really quickly. Thanks for sharing with us at Simple Lives Thursday; hope to see you again this week.
What great tips, my favorite is sort the items into categories. Congrats, you’re featured this week at Inspire Us Thursday on Organized 31.