Tips for an Organized Home

An organized home reclaims your living space for you and your family. Here I provide the FAST approach to organize each room of your home.

Tripping over piles of clothes, not being able to find things, sweeping the bills off the kitchen table... a cluttered house is frustrating!

Are you tired of the clutter in your house? If so, you’re not alone!

A disorganized home traps you into living a life of stress, frustration, and chaos. It robs you of time that could be spent enjoying your life.

Imagine your home having a place for everything so that when you come home, everything is in its place. How much would a stress-free environment help you in other areas of your life?

Here I provide the FAST approach to organizing your home and keeping it organized.

The F.A.S.T Approach to an Organized Home

Now it is time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. I like to use the F.A.S.T principle for clutter control and home organization.

F: Fix a time in your schedule to do it. It can be overwhelming when confronted with organizing your house. Schedule a time in your planner and do small bits at a time.  Write down a time to do the organizing. Start small and choose one room or one surface, such as the kitchen table. Taking small steps is a practical strategy for overcoming procrastination.

A: Anything not used in the last year. If you have not used the items for the last year consider this as potential clutter that you can donate or put in the trash and use your home storage more effectively. With each item, ask yourself:

• "When was the last time I used this and am I likely to use again?"
• "Is it worth it for this item to take up space in my house?"
  

S: Someone else's stuff. Have the kids married and still have all their stuff in the garage? Is it time to get rid of you ex's belongings? It is bad enough when the clutter is your own stuff but when it is someone else's stuff, this can be frustrating. Take charge and let the person know you want them to pick up their belongings. If not, then this will become a source of clutter.

T: Trash. Your goal in home organization is to keep things that add value to the space you inhabit and to seriously consider those things that don't. This is where the trash can is your best friend. If you have never done any kind of de-cluttering and have lived in the same home for many years, this is going to be a process and not something you can do in one sitting.

Consider having a garage sale to get rid of all the clutter and make space so you can begin to truly have an organized home.

From the garage to your bedroom closet, from the home office to the bathroom, you can use this organization principle in each room of your house to get organized and more importantly stay organized.

Once you have de-cluttered your home, then you can move onto the next stage of organization. You might need to purchase some plastic or drawer type organizers so you can neatly place important papers or items that you either use on a daily basis and they can also be used to store items for longer term.

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