How To Build Systems To Create An Organized Home
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Do you feel overwhelmed with spaces in your home, thinking you need to organize yet feeling like every time you do, it never stays organized? This is a common problem and can be so frustrating that over time people stop making the effort, claiming they just aren’t an organized person.
In my twenties, I use to have a side hustle helping a family to organize spaces around their home. I would come in to a room with clutter and lots of stuff with the request to put it all away and “organize it”. I enjoyed the process of figuring out how to make it all fit and would feel satisfied when all the things were put in a designated space. Then I would come back for the next project, only to find out the previous room I had “organized” was back to its previous state of an unorganized mess. Gah!
Thankfully, I have learned a few tricks over the years as I became more aware of why organizing systems fail and what to do to prevent these mistakes in our home. Today I am going to share simple ways to improve your overall efficiency in your daily lives, while building a system for organized living throughout your home. If this sounds like something you need, read further because
You, My Friend
have come to the right place
“Being organized isn’t about getting rid of everything you own or trying to become a different person. It’s about living the way you want to live, but better.” – Andrew Mellen
If you are ready to start living a more organized life, the solution becomes easy by keeping these simple tricks in mind as you approach any space, whether it’s a drawer in your kitchen or an entire room. Let’s first review what I think are important principles to adopt as you consider your next home organizing project.
Key Principles For Organized Living:
- Create a foundation of basics
- Observe how your household lives in a space
- Build systems to improve efficiency
- Break down spaces into small manageable projects
- Make enhancements over time
- Reassess periodically as seasons and phases of life change
I shared in this post how I made the change to be intentional about what I purchase to bring into our home. This has helped me pare down our belongings, creating spaces for what we need most with limited need for an excess of storage. If you need to edit your space before you organize, read here for more tips on curating a space you love.
*Disclaimer: Home with Booz may earn compensation from several affiliate advertising programs. This means if you click and/or make a purchase through certain links on this site or any related social media platforms (including Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook) I may make a commission at not cost to you. All opinions are my own and products I recommend are ones I use or plan to purchase for our home.
Basics
Logic For What You Store Together
I am a strong believer in investing in basics, whether this is for home decor or home organization. By having a few basics such as multi-purpose bins, latch storage box or storage trays, you can easily mix and match throughout your home to build the systems needed to enhance your daily routines. I have a few items I consider my basics because I can use them in a variety of spaces and each item gives me flexibility for how I store our belongings.
When organizing our large cabinet in the basement, I knew most of this storage space for the foreseeable future would be filled with various items for our daughter such as crafts, puzzles, toys and legos. I needed this to be user friendly for all of us and set-up in a way which easily allowed anyone visiting our home to know what was where in this large cabinet. This cabinet could easily become a dumping ground for a whole lot of random things. By using these multi-purpose bins I was able to group like things together to create categories of items, making it easy to pull out the items as needed. I have found having like things grouped together in containers and in a designated zone within the cabinet makes pick up quick and this is a big win. This set-up has worked for the last three years and I only need to edit this space periodically to either donate or throw out items as interests in activities naturally change over time.
Systems
Items Where You Need It, When You Need It
When organizing any space, it’s important to keep in mind the key principle of thinking about how your household lives in the space. It is not helpful to have items you frequently use in random places throughout the house. This works for no-one, including you. Taking into consideration how each family member uses a space, gives you insight into storing items in such a way that creates ease of flow when moving throughout your house asking yourself questions such as, how do we use this room? Or what is our routine when we come in or out of the house, gives you insight to build a system to have items where you need it, when you need it.
When I was organizing the open shelving by our back door, I knew I needed a solution for all the little things we often need before we head out the door including things like sunglasses, sunscreen, dog poop bags, reusable shopping bags etc. Baskets were a great option to corral the chaos of all the little things, while keeping those items readily available for us to grab and go. I also knew I could use the upper shelves with the items I primarily use, while keeping the lower shelves stocked with those items my family could easily see and grab what they need before leaving the house. I love how easy this system is to support our daily routines.
Enhancements
Visual Cues for Easy Identification
I love the look of storage containers without labels, but the reality is, it’s not practical unless you want to be the only person who knows how to find certain items around your home. Labels are a great way to give an easy visual cue to find items and to create systems to improve your efficiency.
When we first moved into our home, I was still in the phase of doing a fast pass and getting things generally organized, meaning the right stuff, in the right room. I wanted items that didn’t need to be out to have a place. However after getting frequent questions and a few phone calls from family members asking where something was located, I knew it was time to improve each space by adding labels to help others easily know what is stored where. I love using a label maker and adding quick labels to various bins around our home to improves the efficiency and make it easy for everyone in our household.
Final Thoughts
When I am helping someone organize a space, I always ask the question – does this flow and logic with storing these items here make sense to you? If it doesn’t make sense, or doesn’t naturally support the flow of your household in your daily routines, then over time the system will fail. The good news is, having organized spaces to be set-up for success, just takes a few small details to ensure it will pass the test of time. I hope you found some inspiration in this post and a few enhancements you can do to improve systems in your own home. If you have an organizing trick you love, drop a note in the comment to share with others!
MUST SEE
This Month’s Favorites
Home Decor: Wood Bunny | Taper Candle Holders | Taper Candles
Organized Spaces: Storage Trays | Weave Basket | Food Bag Storage
Wine: Indian Wells Red Blend | L’Ecole Chenin Blanc | Wine Glasses
This post pairs well with a L’Ecole Chenin Blanc which is a nice light, refreshing wine perfect for Spring! If you found this post useful, please consider sharing it on Pinterest with others! Cheers!
Great tips! I love the idea of using labels for easy access and breaking down big projects into smaller steps. Can’t wait to try these out at home!
I always want my home to be this organized but the struggle is real. Thanks for sharing these easy and attainable organization tricks. I’ll be organizing a bit today.
Great looking website! There is a lot of terrific information about organizing a home. Good job!
Thanks! This was so helpful.
Thanks for sharing your magic trick for organisations, I could some of your suggestions!
Absolutely loved this! That reminder about “does it make sense to you?” is so key. I used to organize based on what looked good, but it never lasted—now I think more about how I actually use the space.