January is National Get Organized month, and for good reason!
After all the hustle and bustle from the holidays, what we’re left with come January is often a home bursting at the seams with clutter and incomplete tasks.
The thing I love most about organizing is taking a big, daunting task and breaking it down into small actionable steps. Here are the steps I take to overcome the overwhelm and get your home back to order in record time:
Simply pick up the first item and make a decision
It’s easy to look at something, question what you should do with it, and put it back down to figure out later. Next time you feel yourself doing this, push past the resistance and make a decision right away about what to do with it. At the end of the day it will cost more energy to look at something and know you should be doing something with it, than to just take action in the first place.
Organize by category, not by room
By trying to pick up and organize each room at a time, you’ll find yourself backtracking as things from other areas leak into parts of the home you’ve already finished. My favorite way to do this is take a laundry basket and collect things from the entire home based on the part of the home they need to go to. Dump each load of items in their corresponding room, and THEN organize once everything is in their end destination room.
Declutter before you try to organize
If your drawers and cabinets are bursting at the seams, no matter what way you try to arrange things they are going to come spilling out eventually. A good rule of thumb is: if you haven’t used it in the past 90 days, and don’t see a reason for using it in the next 90 days, you can feel safe to get rid of it.
Gifts that don’t bring you joy do not need to stay
I’ve written about this before, but gifts serve their purpose the moment they are given to you. It’s up to you to decide if it fits in your life or not, and you don’t need to feel guilty about it. The giver of the gift wants you to be happy! I often find items tucked away in closets and under beds because people didn’t know what to do with the gift they didn’t want. It becomes a postponed decision, and collects more and more clutter. Avoid this pile up if you know right away that you don’t like or will never use something!
Reevaluate decorations from the previous year
If you didn’t use it to decorate your home this year- consider giving it away to lighten your holiday decorations load. You already know the things you love to take out and display, so if there are always remaining items in your bins you can free up that extra storage space for something else.
If you’re pressed for space to begin with, one solution that I’ve had several clients take advantage of is storing their holiday decorations and supplies with STASH storage. With STASH you only pay for the item you store; they pick it up and deliver it back whenever you need. I highly recommend using this for items you only need once a year to free up space for things you use more frequently.
Clean out the fridge and pantry
After all of the parties, big family meals, and gourmet gift baskets, the fridge and pantry can become a hodgepodge of half used items and packed with leftovers. Take the time to give it a good clean out so you can start all of those New Years resolutions with a fresh pantry and fridge.
One in, two out with kids toys
If you didn’t have a chance to already weed out the kids toys before Christmas, take this time to donate two toys for every one they received on Christmas. This is the best time to go through their old stuff because they are too occupied with their new toys/gadgets to even notice!
Take time to decompress
Lastly, after rushing from one event to the next over the past month, the best way to regain some sense of order and peace is to schedule blank space in your life to relax and not have anywhere to be. Getting organized should be a fun and lighthearted event after the holidays! If you’re stressing about getting everything back to normal right away, you will be doing yourself a disservice. You deserve a grace period to make Room For Peace ♡