- The first step to organizing is simplifying the contents of your home. In her book, "Organizing Plain & Simple," Donna Smallin states that an astonishing 80 percent of the items in an average person's home go unused, while only 20 percent of belongings see regular use. She calls this the 80/20 rule. While it's not realistic to try to purge 80 percent of your belongings, it is reasonable to assume your household includes at least a couple boxes worth of things you no longer need. Methodically comb through each room, gathering up items you don't use anymore. Keep a second box for "maybe" items if you have things that you're afraid you might miss if you got rid of them now. Leave your maybe box in the garage or a closet. Any items that are still resting peacefully in the box, unused, in a month are appropriate fodder for your decluttering mission. Donate or sell anything that is simply taking up space in your home.
- After purging your home of as much clutter as possible, the next step is finding an appropriate place for the items that you are keeping. Smallin suggests using five easy questions to help decide where an item belongs. "How often do I use it? Where do I use it? How accessible is it? How accessible should it be? Does it belong in this room?" Junk drawers, messy closets, and piles of unsorted papers have no place in an organized home. Anything worth keeping should have a place where it belongs. Take a box or bag with you on a tour of the house. As you go, pick up any items that don't belong in the room and put them away when you reach the room where they do belong. After a couple rounds of the home, you should have everything relegated to the correct room of the house.
- Implement storage solutions for every room of the house. Thanks to stores like IKEA and the The Container Store, there is no shortage of creative, space saving storage. Group like items such as office supplies, toys, photo albums and memorabilia so that you rarely encounter a single item that needs to be stored alone. You can find new storage spaces in a variety of areas throughout the home. Don't neglect little-used areas such as the tops of cabinets. You can use the wasted space beneath furniture for shelving or drawers as well. A side or end table covered with a tablecloth can house a magazine rack underneath. The area under the bed is ideal for a variety of boxes and shoe organizers designed for just this space. Challenge yourself to find an appropriate place for absolutely every item in your home.
