9 Solutions to Get Your Home Organized for The New Year

These Tips Will Give You More Peace and Appreciation for Your Home

Having an organized and clean living space is not only beautiful but can be extremely beneficial for your entire family’s well being. Providing spaces for everything that you and your family use daily will save you time and stress from searching for important items. Having a clean space also provides most people with a sense of peace and accomplishment. These 9 helpful tips will get your new year off to a productive one.

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1. Start Small and Declutter Your Immediate Living Areas.  If you have a sizeable living space don’t rush to declutter your living space in one day and at one time.  This can lead to overwhelming decisions that cause you to become frustrated and likely to just throw the entire process away. Prevent this by simply starting small and in the areas that you use most often such as your kitchen and bedroom.

2. Plan Ahead and Decide Where You Want Items to Stay.  Take a look at your overall space and decide ahead of time where you may possibly want everything to go. You may even decide to use a mail holder, storage crates, or shelves that can help your space stay organized. I believe that everything should have a place in my home. However, because we’re not perfect staying totally organized all the time is something that we all have to work towards and let’s be honest, having children, and just being tired after work can also make being organized every single day impossible. Do what you can!

3. Create a Cleaning Routine Ahead of Time.  This is so important if you work outside of your home or if you have children. It’s so easy to put a “to-do” list off for the next day, but eventually, everything will just pile up and turn into clutter all over again. Here is my real cleaning routine that I have done for about 7 or 8 years. You can print it here. It’s a realistic cleaning guide for busy adults. When my son was born I knew that I wanted to have a flexible cleaning routine that provided a safe and sanitized home for my baby. However, I didn’t want to spend hours before or after work cleaning my home. I found it to be much easier for me to dedicate about 30 minutes to 1 hour before or after work to quickly clean areas of my home. I also bend, stretch, and use this time as a slight workout. Especially with the mopping and vacuuming. Doing housework can easily burn 100 calories in one hour. 

4. Live a Minimalistic Lifestyle.  This is difficult to adjust to in the beginning. This is a goal that I’ve been working towards in my home for a few months now. In my decluttering and organizing, I’ve discovered that we just have too many toys, papers, unworn clothes, and shoes; I could go on and on. Decluttering your home is a big task and truly requires time and patience. Once it’s done make a conscious effort to stick to not having too much. Teaching children to donate to those less fortunate actually builds character and teaches empathy as well. My motto has become if it doesn’t have a place, or if we haven’t used it in years, it has to go. This leads me to my next solution for having an organized home in the new year.

5. Perform Detailed Cleaning Monthly.  Deep cleaning areas such as carpets, refrigerators, and baseboards can be done monthly. These tasks are time-consuming and can be overwhelming if you attempt to do them weekly.  Trust me I’ve tried! With a new year and new goals for my life and schedule, I’ve created a monthly cleaning guide that fits the areas and needs of maintaining my home. Some of these things on my list I do currently and other things will be new. You can print it here.

6. Hire Help.  It’s perfectly fine to enlist the help of a professional cleaning service whether it is for weekly, monthly, or every 6 months of deep cleaning. If you don’t think it’s in your budget, think again! Cleaning services are much more affordable than most think. It depends on your service needs and the square footage of your space. Check services such as Groupon and Living Social for deals in your city.

7. Refresh Your Space.  Refreshing your space doesn’t have to cost you a dime.  Take decor from one room and move it into another room. Moving furniture around in rooms to create a new look, a fresh coat of paint, new pillows, and flowers can brighten any room.

8. Make The Best of Unused Space.  I read something years ago on a lifestyle blog that highlighted ways to value your home. The author of the blog suggested that we learn to appreciate the home that we work hard to pay for and enjoy. If there are any areas of your home that you are not using how you would like to make this the year to use them.  

9. Begin to Use a Planner or Calendar.  I’ll admit that I didn’t make good use of my planner in 2018. However, I did use my Google calendar very often. The difference in a planner and a calendar is that a planner allows you to write out goals and ideas with possible dates in mind.  A planner allows you to add in motivational quotes, doodles, pictures, and most of them come with very cute and inspiring designs.  I love things like this. Having a large scope of what’s to come can inspire you and drive you to set goals and accomplish them successfully.  Calendars have gotten a lot fancier than my college days, but most paper calendars don’t allow room for creativity.  Google calendar was helpful for me because it gave me helpful alerts on my phone, directions to where I needed to go, and allowed me to add my plans to other users calendars. However, I don’t crave that instant technology that Google calendar provides so, I will stick with my paper planner for 2019. There are a ton of designer planners in stores like Hobby Lobby and Michael’s, but don’t be fooled you don’t have to spend a ton for a nice planner.  I have found that Target and even Aldi carries beautiful planners in January that is less than half of the cost of other well-known brands. This beautiful planner made my Mead can be found in Target for only $10.99. I decided to use this beautiful planner that I found at Aldi for only $7.99.  It is made by the brand Pembrook and includes stickers and labels to organize my week/month.  I especially like the price.

Happy New Year and Many Blessings to You and Your Family!

Carmen ♥