Organizing your home is the best way to create a stress-free life.
I know that moms everywhere can relate to this, but the disorganization that can come along with having one or more kids can sometimes be catastrophic. Keeping an organized home is tantamount to living a life of reduced anxiety, but when you have children you know that things can blow up at any moment, and a clean, clutterless house can explode into a huge mess without provocation. So how do you stay organized, when there are so many variables working against you?
Be vigilant of your closets. Closets can be a great place to throw things when company is coming over, but they can easily go from storage spaces to complete organization nightmares. Start in your closets and sort things by how often they are actually used. Donate anything that hasn’t been worn in the last year, or anything your children have outgrown. Throw away anything broken or useless. Implement a rule that when you buy something new, you donate something old. Apply this rule to your children’s toys immediately.
Give everything a home. Set up a dish somewhere near the front door for keys, wallets, headphones, and anything else that is taken from, and returned to the house daily. Organize your spaces so that everything from dishtowels (and bath towels, which should be separate), to makeup remover has a space where it belongs. Always return it to that space, and make sure everything knows where everything lives, so that they can help you keep an organized home.
READ MORE: Back to School Organization: Tips and Tricks
Create a lost and found. Set up a plastic bin in the laundry room or somewhere away from the common areas. When you clean, if you come across random things your family left around, instead of putting them back where they belong, chuck them into the bin. When anyone asks you where something is, say ‘In the bin’. You will likely only have to do this a few times before they start going straight to the bin on their own. Hopefully this will eventually lead to them putting things away themselves, rather than going all the way to the bin for their belongings.
If all this is too much for you, another option is to hire a home organization company. Companies like Enliven Lifestyle Solutions specialize in taking your home from a cluttered mess to a streamlined, organized, well-oiled machine. This option is great for working moms, mothers or multiple kids, or anyone who just doesn’t really have the time or energy to organize their own home.
Great tips!