This post Introducing: The Ultimate Guide to Home Organization appeared first on Life Storage Blog.
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Home organization is not something you can do once and hope it stays that way forever. However, with some well-thought-out organization systems in place and simple routines for upkeep, you can have the organized home you dream of.
Follow us room by room as we lead you to our best resources with simple storage solutions and organization tips for all situations so you can reclaim the clean throughout your home. Without further ado, here is our ultimate guide to home organization.
For a Self-Guided Tour: Mudroom Kitchen Living Room Dining Room Bedroom Bathroom Closets Home Office or Craft Room Laundry Room Garage Basement Enter Through the Mudroom
The mudroom does some serious work. This place can be the hardest room in the house to keep orderly because everything and everyone comes through here.
For this reason, try to keep the mudroom as sparse as possible. Only store the necessities for getting out of the door as easily as possible. Consider swapping out seasonal coats and shoes from another closet in order to keep this room useful throughout the year.
Here’s our full guide on how to keep your entry and mudroom organized.
Often the mudroom is the first room you see coming in the door from a long day. Here’s how I transformed my entryway to brighten it for my family and make it an extra functional space.
First Stop: The Kitchen
…or as some refer to it, the heart of the home. Utensils, dishware and appliances of all shapes and sizes live here, making organizational systems in this space somewhat of a challenge. This room needs to be functional and yet also attractive to cater to trending open concept designs.
When is there a time of year where the kitchen isn’t the star of the show? As you start thinking about all the meals, desserts and dishes that are about to be prepped, eaten and cleaned in this space, it may be time to rethink your organization strategy.
Here are 13 tips for kitchen organization to get you started.
►Organizing Countertops
Cooking is always better in a clean space. And do not forget that dreaded junk drawer (you know you have one). A place for everything and everything in its place helps to keep counters clear. When it is time to whip up that batch of cookies or meal prep for the busy weeks ahead, no one wants to spend time cleaning off their counters. Here are five ways to organize your kitchen countertops to keep away clutter.
►Organizing the Pantry
When you’re ready to tackle the pantry, here’s a simple process to follow: check, clear, clean.
Check for expired goods or food you are not going to use. Clear your shelves and give them a good cleaning. Clean the items as you place them back into the pantry, reorganized and in order.
Before a big holiday dinner with the family is the perfect time to take a closer look at your pantry before cramming in all the fixings. Take some ideas from Madison at A Joyfully Mad Kitchen: 9 Ways You Can Make Your Pantry More Organized. She even includes free pantry labels to keep bins tidy!
Next Up: The Living Room
The room where you live is bound to have some chaos. This is often the room where pillows are tossed on the floor, stray toys get stuffed in the cushions and someone’s clothes are left stranded somewhere.
Baskets are always a great home organization solution and the living room is no exception to the rule. Place attractive baskets next to your couch or chair to clean up some clutter fast when company stops by.
As chilly weather sets in, keep those throws from being thrown on the floor by adding a simple blanket ladder. (You can even make your own for less than $10! Here’s how we did it.)
►Tips for Organizing Small Living Rooms
If you are searching for ideas on how to make the most of a small living room, these10 tips for a more spacious living room may be helpful. Maximizing your space with these solutions can create a more clutter-free room where you’ll enjoy spending time.
Welcome to Our Dining Room
The dining area usually doesn’t require much in terms of organization. After major dinner parties or holidays, it makes sense to freshen up linens and china and make sure everything is stored away properly.
Do you have trouble organizing your dining room? Let us know your organization problem on social media so we can write more on this subject to help you out! Find us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
A Look at the Bedroom
Keeping a clutter-free bedroom could be the key to a good night’s rest. A calm, inviting bedroom fosters tranquility. Having to clear off piles of clothes or slipping under ill-made sheets is not a good start to a night.
Do you find that instead of hanging up your clothes you are tossing them over a bedroom chair? It may be time to eliminate that chair or create a space where the chair is used properly. Once you’ve established a sanctuary in your bedroom, you’ll be less likely to want to clutter it.
Ready for a bedroom refresh? Check out our 7 step bedroom organization challenge for tips and ideas.
►Tips for Organizing Kids’ Bedrooms
A child’s bedroom stocked with toys is a recipe for a disaster zone. As Melissa from The Inspired Room points out, mixing a sleeping area with clothes and toys leads to clutter when it comes to kids. Designate children’s bedrooms for sleeping and dressing. If you have the space, find a separate area for toys and crafts.
Personally, as a mother of three, I know this fact too well. In order to maximize the play space in our home, my children are sharing a couple of bedrooms and a small room has been designated for toys.
If you lack that extra room, here are some creative ways to store all those toys and keep things in order, as well as some ways to organize children’s clothing so that mom can keep her sanity.
Now Entering the Bathroom
If there is any space in a house where you need to make the most of every inch of empty storage, it is the bathroom. Have you ever considered adding storage to the inside of cabinet doors or placing drawers in that awkward under-the-sink area? Try grouping bathroom supplies by use as well; all your first aid needs should be in one spot while hygiene, makeup and other items should be grouped and stored together.
These tips as well as 11 more practical bathroom organization ideas will streamline your morning routine in the bathroom.
Plus, if you have that dreaded shared kid’s bath, here are some solutions to keep that room orderly.
►Tips for Organizing Small Bathrooms
What do you do when life deals you a small bathroom? You get creative. We’ve put together 10 small bathroom ideas that we think will change your life.
A Peek Into Our Closets
When it comes to home organization, closets can be a pain point. However, closets should be your greatest tool! We rounded up innovative and resourceful closet storage ideas over in this article:17 Brilliant Hall Closet Organization Ideas. The before and after photos are sure to leave you feeling inspired to tackle your coat, supply and even linen closets ASAP.
Here are the basics: Every closet in a home can become a drop zone if you allow it. Organize your closets while remembering to divide items into what you use every day and what is only used every once in a while. Keep all your everyday items very handy, and then add and store less used items higher and higher while keeping heavier items on the low shelves or the floor. Create uniformity with similar bins or baskets and use labels to keep everyone in the house in the loop.
Fan Favorite: The Bonus Room
Although creative spaces like offices and craft rooms can be super challenging to organize, they can also be the most rewarding. When scrapbooking, sewing or even blogging, beginning with a clean space makes all the difference to your output.
►Craft Room Organization
Specifically for crafting, having a spot for all your supplies and materials is imperative. Containers, drawer dividers and file folders make the organized office or craft room, so be sure the divide and conquer. Make your storage simple; the more simple, the more likely laziness won’t set it when it’s time to clean up your craft. Also, getting out all the supplies is easy, but it should be just as easy to put them away. Here’s a guide to storing craft supplies in a closet.
►Home Office Design
Has this ever happened to you? You want to start that project or get to work on the computer, but you find your workspace buried under papers and supplies. Having to clean your workspace before you can get anything done inhibits productivity for obvious reasons.
If you’ve never officially organized your home office, it may feel too grand a task to even try. Decluttering your office doesn’t have to feel like a complete overhaul. HGTV has a helpful 10-step guide to office organization to help you break down this project into manageable pieces to save you some time.
A Quick Stop in the Laundry Room
Just getting the laundry together is a chore in itself. Lessening the burden of cleaning all those clothes with a bright, well-organized laundry space can make any homemaker happier.
Quick laundry room organization tips: Have we mentioned baskets before? In my laundry room, I use baskets to hide cleaning rags and corral my laundering supplies. Control some chaos with a space for all those lone socks you have lying about. Start the laundry process before you even load the washer by having pre-sorted dirty hampers. Add a simple tension rod between cabinets for extra drying storage. Read our full laundry room organization guide here.
Read Also: 5 Tips to Shorten Your Laundry Routine to 20 Min a Day Heading Out to the Garage
I don’t know about you, but the garage is our catch-all for extra junk. I can imagine a basement becomes the same (and for that, read on to the next section). However, I know that when this designated storage room is orderly and clean I want to keep it that way. Plus you don’t want to have to be that family that never wants to open their garage for fear the neighbors will see our disaster zone.
We’ve got plenty of guides to help you when your home organization campaign leads you to the garage:
How to Organize Your Garage Inexpensive Garage Makeover Ideas That Are Cheap to Complete How to Build DIY Garage Storage Shelves for Under $60 How to Organize Tools with a Garage Pegboard Down in the Basement
If you have a basement, consider yourself lucky. Not everyone has one, and that’s a whole lot of spare storage space you’re living on top of. That space can be instrumental in helping you declutter the rest of your home, so you’ll want to maximize it as much as you can. Here are our tips on basement organization and storage to help you take full advantage of the extra space downstairs.
Where Will You Start with Home Organization?
Creating an organized home can feel like a daunting task. Hopefully some of these resources and quick tips get the ball rolling. Remember: set small goals and move through your home tweaking what you already do and improve methods that may not have worked in the past.
Starting to declutter may take some time, but it will be well worth it. And there is no rush! Part of the fun of decorating and creating your home is in completing the task.
Editor’s note: Post originally published on November 17, 2017; updated April 9, 2021, to include more home organization resources.
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