When your space feels cluttered and out of control, so does your life. While a full organizational makeover of your possessions might daunt you, there are some simple life hacks that make the experience more approachable and manageable. Here’s a step-by-step guide for a more organized space (and life).
Out With The Old
Sometimes unorganized spaces, such as offices and closets, are only cluttered because of the excess of items, nothing more. Therefore, your first step in a more organized lifestyle is a healthy clear-out of your old and forgotten items. Check your local Goodwill or thrift store for donation days and hours, break out those plastic garbage bags and go through your old possessions. Take a lesson from Marie Kondo, the famous Japanese tidy-expert, and hold each item in your hands. Ask yourself if the item brings you joy. If the answer is no, or you are unsure, donate or throw it away, accordingly.
Repurpose
As you go through your house, repurpose items you might have thrown out. Trays, bowls, crates and shelves can be wonderful organization tools. Use old bowls for catchalls of keys, coins, paperclips and rubber bands, use old crates and shelves for vertical storage options and stack them neatly. One of the most common mistakes in organizing is a lack of optimizing space. Repurpose your old stuff and take optimize your storage options.
Everything Has a Place
Now that you’ve done away with items you either don’t want or don’t need, it’s time you make sure everything has its place. There are a ton of DIY organizing ideas out there if only you look. For instance, that pile of old magazines that you still look through now and again, display them on the wall in simple shelves; if you have bikes and live in an apartment, mount them on the wall with hooks, and call them decor; and if you have too many pots and pans, hang them up above the stovetop on a load-bearing beam. When everything has a place, your space and your life feel more navigable.
Use Self Storage
While it’s great to slim down on your possessions, the reality is sometimes your hobbies, passions and work get in the way of a minimalist lifestyle. That’s why a quality self-storage unit might be the best place to organize some of your stuff. Whether in Dallas, New York, Seattle or Chicago or anywhere in between, self-storage units are a cost-effective organizational option. While some people simply use the space for boxes of extra stuff, use the same techniques of organizing and make your storage unit not only easily navigable, but pleasant to spend time in. Some people use these spaces as akin to a garage.
Media Pollution
Organizing your home doesn’t only mean material objects. With all the different social media outlets, screens and sounds that bombard our senses every day, it’s important we take a step back and put down your phone or tablet, turn off the TV, and be still and silent at times. This may mean a once-a-week unplug evening, or maybe a certain unplug time, each evening. Spend time with family and/or friends connecting without these distractions, for that’s what clutter is.
The Organized Life
Get a headstart on the new year with a home organizing makeover. Donate and repurpose your old stuff and make room for those items you keep. Get a storage unit and keep it tidy so you can easily get what you need when you need it. Create a culture of calm in the noisy world with a media-free time of day in your family schedule. All these steps will help you have a more organized home and life.
