Maintaining an Organized Home

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The key to staying consistently organized is consistent cleaning! For many people, procrastination leads to a dirty home even though they started out with the best intentions, buying an abundance of storage solutions and labels, constantly watching home improvement shows for the best tips, and maybe color coding or alphabetizing to create order, but your home never seems to stay organized. Children can also make organizing harder. Sound familiar?

Here Are Some Helpful Tips to Help you Maintain an Organized Home

1. Take it Little by Little and Day by Day (Consistent Cleaning):

Do not make the cleaning and organizing project into a big, one-time project, you should be cleaning and organizing every day as a part of your daily self-care routine. Make it a little easier on yourself and begin organizing little by little, working on one area at a time, day by day until the room is clean to the point where a storage system is in place that allows you to keep the room fully organized every single day. This consistency will lead to a home that is always organized!

2. Find a Focal Point:

You know you want to work section by section now, but you’re overwhelmed trying to decide where to start. Try to focus on one section of a room at a time. Start with something that seems to be the most urgent, such as unsorted mail which could contain time-dependent documents. Focus on the task at hand until it is completed, and then you can move on to the next task, after a break, to avoid overwhelm.

3. Declutter Your Home:

An assortment of unnecessary items will add to clutter and mess consuming your home. Part with items which you no longer have a purpose for or of which you may have duplicates. If there is too much clutter to clear alone, professional cleaning services can help you sort and remove the excess items. Try donating items that are in good condition so someone in need can utilize items you no longer want/need.

4. Recruit Some Help:

No one said you need to do this cleanup project solo. Recruit the help of friends and/or family. You can even make a game out of it or “bribe” your helpers with pizza or unwanted belongings they find.

5. Use Those Storage Solutions and Labels:

Sort and organize belongings with the help of storage and labels by categorizing similar items. This will allow for easier accessibility and help you to avoid losing items in the mess.

6. Make it Fun:

Cleaning and organizing do not have to be boring tasks. Play some music, play a game with your helpers, or make a scavenger hunt out of it.

7. Avoid Procrastination:

Avoid procrastination, this is a bad habit that most people have to work to stop, but when it comes to clutter, the mess and disorganization will continue to grow when left unaddressed.

Avoid Procrastination by:

  • Making a routine out of putting items away throughout the day (clothes, paperwork, toys, tools, food, cleaning materials, household items, etc.), right away (Daily)
  • Making cleaning and organizing a priority

Make sure you keep placing your items in their appropriate locations, rather than throwing them just anywhere out of sight.

Follow these tips to help organize your home and maintain that clean, orderly environment.

Decluttering Tips for Hoarders:

  1. Invest 15 Minutes Every Day in Cleaning
  2. Start Small to Avoid Mental Overwhelm
  3. Use an Organization System (The 3 Container Method)
  4. Follow Through with Consistent Cleaning
  5. Stop Taking in New Things - “One in, two out”
  6. Donate Items to Charity! (501c3 tax deductible*)

*Check with a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) before deciding where to donate to determine if the donation will be tax deductible.

6 decluttering tips for hoarders infographic

Please consider our company Address Our Mess for professional hoarding cleanup service. Call 410-589-2747, email info@addressourmess.com, or use our contact us page for more information. We are here to help!

Tue, 12/08/2015 - 13:00 by Kenneth Donnelly