It happens in a flash—you start with a fairly organized system, but a few days later, laundry has piled up on the bedroom floor, and the week’s mail is still sitting on the kitchen counter. Odds and ends have seeped out of the places where they should be to spots around the house where they were used and left behind.
Before you know it, your last cleaning spree has been undone by everyday life, and you’re faced with what seems like another monumental task.
It happens.
The secret to getting (and keeping) your home organized has everything to do with the little things. These tips and tricks make it easy to keep your space looking classy without spending countless boring hours a week going through your house room-by-room to sort things out.
1. Spread the workload.
The first key to easy home organization that works well for me is just this: Take one room at a time. If you’re preparing to have company, then obviously you’re going to want to take a more holistic approach. But for everyday life, working through one room at a time keeps things simple and non-overwhelming; it shouldn’t take more than 20 or 30 minutes.
These tips and tricks make it easy to keep your space looking classy without spending countless boring hours a week going through your house room-by-room to sort things out.
Every day, choose a room to focus on. Put things in their places, clear off surfaces like end tables and countertops that aren’t supposed to be cluttered, maybe wipe down the furniture with a rag if it’s getting a bit dusty, and just generally make that room company-ready. The next day, choose a different space that needs help.
2. If it takes two minutes or less, do it now.
This tip is a huge time-saver. It’s simple—if you see something that needs to be done and the task will take two minutes or less to complete, just go ahead and do it. This prevents little things—like putting shoes where they belong, rather than in the middle of the floor—from cluttering up everything.
3. Enlist help.
This is perhaps the most obvious—and easiest to overlook—organization tip out there. If you have kids, a spouse, or a roommate, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be helping out to keep things neat. Don’t be afraid to delegate! Asking them to help with tasks like washing the dishes after a family meal or cleaning up their messes after they make them will make your life much happier.
Do you have other home organization tips you’d like to share? Tell me your secrets in the comments!
More from BlogHer:
10 Tips for Packing Healthy School Lunches
