Are you looking ahead to 2020 and realizing that organizing your home is at the top of your resolutions list? You’re definitely not alone! For many of us, now is the time to reflect on personal spaces, routines, and habits going into the new year.
As professional organizers, we think organizing your home is one of the most important things you can do for your wellbeing (sure, we’re a bit biased, but it’s still true!). An organized home means you’ll have less stress, better health, and more energy to spend on what you love.
If you’re ready to organize your home in the coming year, we recommend starting with some basics that will make a big impact. Here are five organizing tasks that will drastically improve your home and your life:
Set up a system for incoming mail
Dealing with incoming mail and papers is a challenge for so. many. people. The best way to stay on top of it all is to create a system that helps you pre-sort papers from the get-go. For easy maintenance, a system should be three things: visible, simple, and logical.
- Place your system where you are most likely to see it when you enter your home.
- Avoid creating stacks where papers get lost at the bottom. Instead, opt for vertical file sorters, such as this one or this one.
- Sort incoming papers into broad categories (“Needs Action,” “Pay,” and “File/Save” are often the most helpful) and immediately toss or shred anything you don’t need to keep.
- Set aside a few minutes during the week to process each of your categories.
(P.S. Stay tuned for our series on dealing with paper clutter in the coming months! Better yet, subscribe to our monthly newsletter and we’ll let you know when new posts are live.)
Organize your pantry
Making meals for yourself and your family is such special thing to do, but it gets frustrating fast when your pantry and food storage spaces are disorganized. Not only do you waste time searching for what you need, but items get overlooked and forgotten, leading to food waste and money down the drain.
Taking some time to organize your pantry will make a huge difference whether you’re prepping meals or hunting for snacks. We shared some of our best pantry organizing tips in this blog post!
Pare down your wardrobe
A closet stuffed with clothes that no longer fit or serve you creates stress every single morning when you get dressed. By paring down your wardrobe, you’ll begin each day with an intentional closet containing only the clothes you actually enjoy wearing.
- Start with the easy stuff: remove items that are damaged or that you know you’ll never wear again.
- Then, bit by bit, go through each piece of clothing and reflect on how it makes you feel when you wear it.
- Only keep items you feel great in and that you wear often, and donate everything else to your favorite charity.
- Enjoy your stress-free mornings!
Looking for an even bigger wardrobe challenge? Check out Project 333.
Keep kids’ spaces organized
If you’re a parent, you know that kids’ play areas can quickly and easily get out of control. This year, build some habits and set up simple systems that will help you (and your children) keep toys and play spaces organized. This blog post has some great tips!
Redefine what “abundance” means to you
This is a little more philosophical than the other tasks, but bear with us.
Part of the reason why many of us feel our homes are disorganized is that we simply have too much stuff. We want joy and abundance in our lives, but too often the abundance we seek takes the form of stuff we buy.
In the new year, spend some time reflecting on what matters most to you: Time with family? Volunteering? Travel? Then, take steps to create abundance in those areas. Doing this will make your life far more joyful and your home far less cluttered!