Overwhelmed by your stuff? Click here to find 5 tips for analyzing your lifestyle needs, and start creating home organizing systems for yourself.
Last month we talked about How to Reduce Daily Stress by de-cluttering. Now you have an idea of how and why sorting and streamlining can help ease your stress levels. This month we do a deeper dive into how you can get started in organizing around your lifestyle, to creating solutions that really work for YOUR life!
A note on storage and organizing systems
Home organization and storage solutions on social media can sometimes seem as much “trend” as “necessity,” but the right solutions really DO make a difference! But you don’t have to (and maybe shouldn’t, at least not right off the bat) go overboard.
While pantry, garage, or closet organization videos are impressive, take their tips as a loose guide vs strict recipe. Storage solutions that work for one, are not always the best for someone else (like you!).
Sure, we all have roughly the same life activities — we sleep, cook, eat, clean, and relax. But our actual habits and preferences are wildly different! Take time to review your day-to-day needs before buying the newest and trendiest organizing systems.
Here are seven steps to help you analyze your needs, and organize around your lifestyle:
1. Choose your container style: Clear vs. Opaque
This is something that many people forget to consider when shopping for supplies:
- Are you an out-of-sight, out-of-mind person who wants a fast-n-easy view of what’s inside your various storage boxes?
- Or does the sight of all your belongings, right in your face, give you the sweats?
If you prefer the easy-view approach, go for clear storage containers. If you prefer a sleeker, consistent look, opaque storage solutions will help give you that calming look you want. And if you like the hidden style in your rooms, but clear in your closets or pantry, you’re definitely not alone! That’s a very common approach.
2. Separate Everyday and Occasional Items
Separating frequently-used items from those used rarely or occasionally needed is essential to organizing around your lifestyle.
Easy access to things you use or even want to look at daily can help speed your day along, or bring joy. Storing these in easy-to-reach spaces, or making them a part of décor through creative display can help. Tuck occasional items in labeled storage containers, or rotate some of your decor if there’s so much on display that you barely see your treasures anymore.
PRO TIP: Labels take a minute or two to create, but save you loads of time (no need to search bin after bin for what you’re looking for) and money (when you know what you have, you avoid shopping for it… again!). Check out our favorite supplies at SOS by Lisa.
3. Prioritize Hobbies
People often make the mistake of organizing every part of their life. Let me tell you something: you don’t have to organize everything, especially not your hobbies. If you like keeping your sewing table messy, let it stay that way. Organizing a home is supposed to make life easier, not boring!
- If an aspect of your life or home is already easy for you, you don’t have to organize it just for the sake of organizing.
- If you want to organize your hobby supplies, however, plan the storage solutions to serve you. Group like items together, and store them in ways that help make them easily accessible so you can reach out and use them as often as you like.
4. Honor Every Space
It is important to honor the differences between the different areas of your home. Let your kids keep their toys in sight if that’s what they want. You can also ponder over questions like who cooks most in the kitchen or do you need some stuff at a lowered height for your children.
Allowing each space to be utilized to its full potential is essential for a happy home, which is more important than an organized home!
5. Design Spaces Around Routine
Again, organization is meant to serve you, not the other way around. The basis of home organization is the daily routine of your household’s members.
- If you and your partner like having coffee every morning, for example, taking out the coffee machine from inside the cabinets and setting it up every morning is likely to feel frustrating. Work with your life and dedicate a permanent spot on the counter for your coffee machine, and maybe even a “tree” for your favorite mugs.
- If the kids are more likely to drag their toys to a central area to play near family, then don’t fight it by trying to store all their toys in their room and then battle getting them put away! Create a small area (closed off or hidden if you prefer), for them to store some toys so they can play but still be part of the family.
Will it help to partner with a pro?
It’s your home, but that doesn’t mean you have to do all the home organization yourself. Sometimes it helps to have a compassionate outside expert help you make decisions and come up with solutions. If organizing around your lifestyle feels like a distant dream, consider hiring a professional like Lisa, to help!