Organizing your home can be a daunting challenge. Whether daily or weekend cleaning is your strong suit, it seems the harder you work, the more clutter you find, especially if you have children. Here are some quick tips that just might help you have an organized home…
1. Prepare lunch at night. This will save lots of time in the morning rush and be one less thing that you will have to think about during your morning lessons/routines. One thing that we have done through the years is cook large meals at night and have “left-overs” for lunch–we never call it “left-overs” we just call it “PREPARED!” ha!
2. Use a magnetic board; place it on your refrigerator, and list the food items you will need for your next shopping trip to the supermarket.
3. Buy some jumbo storage boxes to organize your closet. Add some additional hangers that support more than one piece of clothing. Some of the home shopping clubs offer space saver hangers and storage units which are affordable and can turn any closet into an efficient space-saving unit.
4. Get rid of the piles of magazines, newspapers, and advertisements which have been accumulating in your home. Keep the current issues, and throw out the rest. Copy the neat quotes in your journal. Take “notes” in your notebooks. Get rid of the piles.
5. Organize your kitchen cabinets, and line them with “Con-Tact” paper. Your cabinets will be easier to clean by simply using a damp sponge.
6. Throw out anything outdated from your medicine cabinet. If you also have a bathroom cabinet, line it with “Con-Tact” paper as well, and re-arrange the items inside.
7. Do you have jewelry scattered on top of your bedroom furniture?Purchase a jewelry box containing several drawers. You’ll never lose that earring again!
8. Help your children to clean their rooms. Develop a reward system which will not only give them an incentive but will teach them to be responsible for their clothes and toys. Buy different colored storage boxes for their toys! One thing that helped us was having daily “Clutter-clutter drills.” I would set the timer for 5 minutes and we would see how much everyone COULD clean in 5 minutes. Guess what? It was usually EVERYTHING! We set up their “spot” to put things and did it quick. Such a help!
9. Arrange all of your cleaning supplies in a closet or basement. Use hooks to hang brooms, dusters, and mops. If you have a few shelves, place all of your cleaning detergents, light bulbs and other household items on them. This is not only a good organizational method, but you’ll find everything you need in one place.
10. Buy a CD rack and place all of the scattered CDs into one space. Perhaps a unit combining CDs and DVDs would be more suitable. Not only is it better organized, but you will find that your favorites will be better protected.
When your home is organized, you not only feel better but seem to be able to accomplish more, right? Go for it! Even the messy mom can get organized!
