4 Simple Systems to Keep Your House Organized

Organized Kitchen

Are you tired of spending countless hours de-cluttering your home only to have it revert to madness within a matter of days (or hours!)? You’re not alone.

As a professional organizer, I’ll be the first to admit that de-cluttering and labeling are only part of the organizing equation. Being able to maintain a space is arguably the biggest factor – and this part, my friends, is a whole other ballgame.

The Home Organizing Systems I Swear By

Here are 4 systems that I swear by to keeping a home organized once and for all. The best part: you don’t need to be a professional organizer to follow them.

#1: The 15-Minute Clean-Up

With the right organizing system in place, 15 minutes is all you should need to bring any room back in order. Even the worst toy tornado can be restored into a place of zen if you know where to return things.

No matter how tired I am at the end of the day, I force myself to spend 15 minutes returning things to their rightful home. When I’m really on my A-game, I enlist the kids to help. The right systems should be intuitive enough for all family members to know where everything belongs, no matter how little or innately unorganized one may be.

If nobody but you understands where things go or if clean up takes longer than fifteen minutes, it’s time to re-assess your storage systems.

#2: The 2-Minute Rule

While we’re on the topic of time, let’s talk the 2-minute rule. This rule couldn’t be simpler to remember and follow: if it takes less than 2 minutes to put something away, do it. Do not leave it on the counter, floor or entryway. Silence the lazy thoughts and just put the darn thing away.

The 2 minute rule

Photo credit: Andrey Grushnikov

#3: The Stairwell Basket

If you have a 2-story home, I’m sure you’re all too familiar with stair clutter. You know, the “toss it on the stairs to bring up later” response to almost anything that belongs upstairs. We all know how this ends: piles of miscellaneous belongings like dirty clothes, toys, books and lone socks lingering on the stairs for days on end.

The solution: Get each family member their own labeled basket for the stairwell as a temporary home for their stuff.

The only rule here is that everyone has to lug their basket up each night and put away all of its contents. Consider this another step in the bedtime routine.

If individual baskets don’t work for you, replace them with ones that do. Maybe it’s separate bins for clean vs. dirty laundry, or toys vs. clothes. Whatever floats your boat.

Stairwell Baskets

#4: The Oh-So-Glamorous Garbage Bag

So you took the time to finally Marie Kondo your closet. It took 6 hours and it looks pristine. A few months lapse and your beloved closet is once again bursting at the seams.

The culprit: You’ve stopped letting go of outgrown and no longer loved items.

Stained, outgrown, unworn and worn-out clothing – much like a toxic boyfriend – need to be shown the door as soon as red flags appear. Resist the urge to keep them around for another year in the hopes that things will change (once I lose weight, once the weather turns…) and toss them to the curb. Or, in this case, Goodwill.

Make a routine of getting rid of clothes regularly by keeping an empty garbage bag in your closet. Toss items directly into the bag the moment that you realize they’re no longer keepers. As soon as the bag is full, tie it up and drive it to your nearest Goodwill. Do not look back. There are more fish, er clothes, waiting for you in the sea.

Dedicating Yourself To Maintaining An Organized Space

These systems are simple but they do require dedication. Follow them daily and you’ll be on your way to keeping your newly organized space in a good state once and for all…or, at the very least, for a few more weeks :).

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Stairwell Basket

Stairwell Basket

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