Everyone deals with mild to severe disorganization and clutter throughout their lives. More often than not, it’s how people tackle these challenges that determines whether they can stay organized. Typically, the biggest problem is that some people dislike taking time out of their lives to clean up anything. Others feel like their efforts won’t matter because they tend to slip back into bad organization habits after a few days.
Keeping your home or office organized doesn’t have to be a chore. You can make the entire process faster and more effective and any space easier to maneuver and more efficient by simply following these four tips.
Work Thoughtfully Room by Room
If you normally attempt to organize your entire home or office in a weekend, it’s time to try a different strategy. People who try to do it all at once often tire out and give up or merely move clutter from one room to another. For a less stressful, smoother process, use a schedule and temporary storage strategy. For example, never organize more than one room a day, and give yourself more than a day to deal with items that require a lot of sorting like old paperwork, mail and mementos. Designate one area of your home or office temporary storage for things that you want to dispose of, take too much time to organize in a day, or require bulk, seasonal or moving storage.
Let Go of Things
A clean, better-organized space far too often quickly becomes disorganized because a person decides to hold onto rarely used items, such as old clothing, craft supplies, toys and tools. They feel that they shouldn’t get rid of these items because they can imagine how they “might” need them in the future. Never waste time organizing items that you haven’t used in years. Instead, sell the items to make a little extra cash, give them to family members, friends or others who you know will use them, or donate them to a charity.
Invest in Self Storage
Of course, you likely have recently unused items around your home or office that you know that you will definitely use in the future. For example, many people become disorganized because they live in apartments or rental homes for months before a move. Some companies, like National Self Storage, know that then they find a new home and have more space for all of their belongings. Business owners often buy bulk office supplies or backup equipment and store these items on tabletops or in closets where they waste space. An inexpensive, self-storage rental unit can help you regain some usable space at home or work and even reduce the clutter that often builds up around items that aren’t in regular use.
Use Successful Organization Tools
Although some organization products work better for some people than others, certain tools have been proven to help many people maintain an efficient, clutter-free space. For example, you might find that organizing clothing by color with matching colored hangers helps speed up your morning work routine or clean laundry handling. Handy tools for specific rooms also exist. For example, in the kitchen, you might organize your space better with a rotating shelving system designed for a corner cabinet or lower cabinet pull-out shelves for pots and pans. In the office, stackable bins and color-coded labels might work best at organizing supplies stored in cabinets.
There are obviously many more ideas that can help you make organizing your home and office a breeze. Consider these four recommendations a starting point. Hopefully, they will guide you around the biggest challenges and aid you in becoming a more organized person overall.