Getting organized and staying organized

Of all people I’m probably the last person to really be writing about getting organized and staying organized. I can say that I’m also a pretty good person to write something like this because staying organized does not come easy for me! I’d consider myself to be more of an organized mess. Our room could be an absolute disaster but I could tell you exactly where that bobby pin is that I saw a week ago under the bed. Haha. When it comes to closed off areas (cabinets, drawers and closets) I am a total freak and have to have them organized otherwise I feel like I can’t function. Everywhere else in the house…not so much but I’m trying! So, here are some tips and tricks that have truly helped me get organized, and stay organized.

Getting Organized

This part is my favorite because I love to throw things away. I can honestly say that it helps not having an emotional attachment to things. Marie Kondo’s decluttering method truly helped me realize what I did need to hold on to and what I felt okay with getting rid of. The part of her method where she says to work by category really overwhelmed me because I have a lot of stuff. If I were to have followed that rule of working by category I would’ve given up before I even started. However, I did apply her ‘does this bring you joy‘ rule to everything but also added a few of my own rules. I also worked in areas that I felt comfortable tackling first and left the areas I knew would be difficult last.

Here are the rules that I applied to help me getting organized. I also allowed myself to keep one clear tub (my choice of size) to keep important items in and items I couldn’t quite let go of.

If I forgot I had it, it had to go.

If I have been holding on to something with the thought of “what if” I had to let it go.

If it had dust on it from not being used, it had to go.

If it was something I shoved in a closet to be out of the way, it had to go.

I started with the rooms we spent the most time in (kitchen, living room, bedroom) and worked my way around them. I for sure thought I had nothing in those rooms to part with because we spend so much time in them but I was surprised by how much I had found that I didn’t know was there. Once I had made a good dent into things I actually got sick to my stomach knowing that I had this much stuff. I think when I did this my first time around I had 6 giant trash bags full ready to go to donations. Nobody needs this much stuff. Getting to that point of realizing you don’t need that much stuff helps so much when you begin to go through more spots. It also helped a lot when I’d go shopping because I didn’t feel the need to impulse buy!

I most definitely wouldn’t say doing this has turned me into a minimalist but it does have me thinking twice before I make a purchase. I’ve also been super cautious of what I buy that I bring into the home because I want it to truly be something I love.

The rooms after that were our basement (mostly full of my stuff), Laken’s room, and everything else. For the basement I organized it by category as I was sorting everything and ended up purchasing bins and labeling them. In Laken’s room I did something super different. I gathered all her toys in one area and made sure everything had their pieces. I ended up donating a lot and tossed everything that was broken.

The absolute hardest part for me was my going through my makeup, skincare, and hair care. For one, it’s part of my blog and my job. I hate wasting product and having to part with those was really hard. I won’t get too much into detail on here about it because I could honestly write a novel on what I’ve learned. I did write a post nearly a year ago about when it’s time to toss out makeup, skin, and hair products and you can find it here. I have learned so much more since then so a new post will be up in the near future.

I probably touched every inch of our house. It’s refreshing to see so much gone and now seeing how much open even the smallest of corners are. If you have to go through this phase first, I recommend having a game plan and a vision. My vision was to create empty spaces in cabinets and drawers and come to the realization that just because there’s an open space doesn’t mean it has to be filled. Since doing this the first time I’ve gone through certain areas again and actually plan on doing the house entirely again this fall.

staying organized

Now for the staying organzied part. I don’t know if it’s the years of retail that I’ve worked having to straighten items or just the satisfaction of making things perfect that had me most excited for the organizing. This part was very therapeutic for me and now I’m starting to think this is why I enjoy cleaning so much now. Goals are super important and my biggest goal was to make sure that every single item had its own spot. It is such a good feeling taking something out of a cabinet and putting it back. Like I also said above, staying organized is tricky for me so I try to stick to the putting back rule, but I do get lazy.

I should also add that I told myself I would have to invest and spend a little in order for the rooms to stay organized. That is totally not necessary. I know some people don’t care but I have to have matching bins, containers, or baskets. If they aren’t matching it drives me crazy and I won’t stop thinking about them until it’s fixed. I also invested in a good label maker! I don’t mind spending the money on containers or whatever I need to help me achieve this because it’ll help me in the long run and will also help me to keep the goal I set in the first place.

The easiest place to start was actually with my clothes and the smaller areas, like drawers. I invested in a lot of drawer organizers. Just be sure to measure twice before purchasing anything. I made that mistake too many times. I grouped like items together and made sure they were placed in areas of the house that made most sense. For an example, we have a coat closet but were keeping coats in our cars and in every closet but that one. Coats are officially only living in the coat closet. We have designated one drawer in our entire house to all the cords. We used to have a spot on each level of the house for convenience and having to go to one spot now is actually easier because we know it will be there. We made the decision to keep everything liquor related in the liquor cabinet in our basement. That alone cleared up an entire shelf of glasses in our kitchen cabinets. Before we were walking downstairs to get the liquor and then walking back upstairs to get the glasses

The grouping part takes time and seems like a lot of work, but in the end has helped us stay more organized. You really have to find a system that works best for you. Bins and labels truly were my best friend through this whole process. It also helped that we really inforced the whole put it back once you’re done rule. I can honestly say at first it was super hard sticking to everything but now it has helped like no other.

Here are a few of the organizers that we have used in our home and label maker. My favorite stores to look for organizers are Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, and The Container Store.