Golden Rules For Organizing Your Living Space

By Ashley Paskill on October 7, 2020

Keeping various rooms throughout your home or apartment can be a challenge. This is especially true if you live with others and have communal living spaces. However, if everyone chips in and does their part, keeping your various spaces throughout your living space is doable. Organization can seem daunting, but it is crucial for maintaining a clean space.

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Make a list and check it twice

Before tackling your organizing, make a list of each room in your home and the spaces you need to organize within those rooms. For example, in your bedroom, you will need to organize desk drawers, sock drawers, and closets. Do a walkthrough of your home to make sure you have every space listed so that you do not forget any. Making a physical list may seem daunting, but as you go through and cross off each space, you will have a physical representation of all you have done.

After you finish making a list, determine a schedule so that you can tackle a little bit at a time. This will help you not be overwhelmed by all that you have to do. Set out a little time each day to tackle one specific drawer or room. You will be amazed at how these little slices of time add up to a more organized living space. You may even opt to try the eight-minute rule, where you set a timer on your phone for eight minutes and organize as much as you can in that time. Working in small increments can help you stay motivated and keep you from being totally overwhelmed with how much you have to do.

Create a system

While this can be difficult when first starting out, creating a system can help you keep track of where everything is. Organize your closets and drawers based on what you put in them. For example, do not put socks in your pants drawer or batteries in a drawer with snacks. Try to keep similar items together as much as possible so that you know where things are. For communal spaces, work with those you live with to make a system that everyone agrees with and can work with. That way, everyone can work together to keep everything organized.

Have a plan for each room

While it may be tempting to use the same tactics in each room, in reality, each room is different so you will need to tackle organizing each room differently. Your kitchen is a place for food items, so any items such as keys that do not fall into food and cooking should go elsewhere. You would not hang your clothes in your bathroom closet. As mentioned above, keeping items in designated and relevant spaces helps you stay organized and will help you know where things are.

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Clean regularly

Once your space is organized, you will want to clean regularly to help keep your rooms clean and organized. Having a regular cleaning schedule will help you in the long run so that you do not have to keep reorganizing and spending huge amounts of time going through everything. If you live with others, create tasks for everyone to do so that you all pitch in and do your parts. This will help the task of cleaning easier since everyone will be working together towards a common goal. You may even decide to get a caddy so that you can store your cleaning supplies in a place where you can just grab it when you need to clean. That way, you are not spending valuable time searching for cleaning supplies that you need.

Maximize space where possible

Even if you live on your own, you likely do not have a ton of space, so it is important that you maximize whatever space you do have. Consider buying an ottoman or coffee table with storage options so that you can have a place for odds and ends such as remotes and chargers in your living room. Use a magnetic board and magnets to hang your makeup on your bathroom or bedroom wall or mirror so that you do not have to clutter your countertops. You can even get over-the-door storage units that are common for holding shoes. That way, you have room in your closets for drawer space for other items. Using hooks in a variety of places can help you hang up coats, bags, or even necklaces. Being creative with how you organize can help even a small space appear bigger.

Teamwork makes the dream work

If you live with family members or roommates, ask them to help you out, especially in communal areas. Talk to them about what can be done in these spaces and come up with a plan. Then, work together to get it done. Working together and delegating tasks will help you not be overwhelmed, and this can be a great bonding opportunity for those you are living with.

Having an organized living space can help you know where things are so that you are not frantically looking for what you need or are not wasting money on things you already have.

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