5 Home organization tips for the New Year

Dec 11, 2010 11:18 AM by Jessica Padykula

Posted in Home / Organizing & Cleaning

Home Organization Tips

If last year was the year of too much clutter, resolve to make the new year a time to finally get organized. Rather than accumulating more things than you have shelf space for, start the year off right – by trading chaos for order in your home. Here are five easy ways to get organized and take charge of your space.

Woman in organized living room

Home organization tip #1

Out with the old to organize your home

If you're sick and tired of your disorganized home, and you've resolved to finally do something about it, the first thing you need to do is purge. Take a day (or two) to go through closets, shelves, boxes and overflowing drawers to get rid of items you don't need. A good rule of thumb is, "if you don't use it, lose it." Give to charity, pass on to friends or family or sell on eBay or UsedEverywhere.com. Once you get rid of useless items that just take up space, you'll be amazed at how much better every room in your home looks.

Home organization tip #2

Add storage solutions for every room in your house

Once you've purged your plethora of unused items, it's time to find storage solutions for items you do have. Time to tidy up the books and magazines piled on desks and coffee tables and the clothing piled on the bedroom floors. Rather than drowning in clutter, invest in some book shelves for your must-reads and consider installing floating shelves for trinkets. Use decorative baskets and trays for kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom storage.

Home organization tip #3

Find double duty furniture

Think about investing in furniture that does double duty as storage. There are beds, ottomans, coffee tables and more that have ample space hidden within to instantly eliminate clutter. This is especially useful if you have young children – just pop the toys into a trunk that doubles as a coffee table to tidy the living room in no time.

Home organization tip #4

Use wall space to keep your home tidy

Maximize vertical space by adding hooks where you can. This will get things off the ground and create more space. Everything from laundry bags on a hook behind the door (rather than in a basket on the floor) to extra coats on hooks in the hall versus shoved into the closet makes for a much tidier home. You can even hang up extra blankets in the guest bedroom if there's no room to house them elsewhere.

Home organization tip #5

Commit to keeping your home organized

In order to really stick to your resolution to be more organized this year, you need to be consistent. Just doing it once and then immediately falling back into old patterns won't get you anywhere (except maybe making the same resolution next year) so do a little bit every day. Promise yourself that once you have storage solutions you'll actually use them. That means no more clothes on the floor and no more books on the kitchen table. Get rid of what you don't use and make sure you stay committed to combating chaos.