Australians have a problem: We’re a cluttered mess. That’s what the last census says, anyway.
According to the 2016 survey, four out of five Australian men spend zero hours doing unpaid domestic work around the house. 12% of women put in more than 30 each week. On average, women spend five to 14 hours organising, cleaning, and making the home habitable.
It’s no wonder the professional cleaning industry in Australia is worth $12 billion a year, and domestic cleaning services in Melbourne keeps growing every year.
But wouldn’t it be great if your house was clutter-free so you could find what you needed and not stress over the mess? In this step-by-step guide, we’re going to tell you how to organise your home.
How to Organise Your Home in Easy Steps
The good news is, once you follow our comprehensive guide, you’ll have your entire home organised and decluttered. The bad news is, it might take a good amount of time and some headaches to get there.
The important thing is to stay focused! It’s so easy to get distracted during the decluttering process. You will be removing everything from each space after all.
Yes, everything. That’s step one.
Clear Everything Out
In every space that’s cluttered and unorganised, you have to purge the stuff you don’t need. You have to learn to let things go. This goes for your mudroom, pantry, cupboards, closets, and drawers.
The five questions you need to ask yourself is:
- Do I use this?
- Do I need this?
- Do I love this?
- Would I buy this today?
- Does it add value to my life?
Too many times we throw something in a drawer thinking we’ll use it later only to forget about it. It may be something we’d like to have or use, but it wasn’t important enough to us that we actually did.
Make sure you have a trash bin and a “keep bin” on hand. If you come across any items you’re unsure about, set them aside. But limit the number of your “not sure” items to five per area.
You’ll get overrun by indecision if you don’t.
Make Two Piles
After you’ve gone through an area and everything you don’t use/need/love is in the trash, it’s time to focus on your “keep bin.”
What you’ll find is that many items you’re keeping aren’t where they’re supposed to be. If you start in the kitchen, you may find items that are better suited for the pantry. You might come across something that should go in the mudroom.
That’s what the piles are for. Make one pile a “stay” and another a “go.” You may need more than one “go pile,” so write down areas where you should move them to.
Organise in Batches
It’s time to think about how space organising. Start putting things in batches according to their function.
In the kitchen or pantry, this would mean keeping all the baking supplies together. In the linen closet, keep towels and manchester separate.
When organising your space, it’s easier to keep things sorted when everything has a proper home. Keep the items you use the most easily accessible. This cuts down on the amount of mess you create rummaging to get to your favourite handbag.
Use Organising Tools
Keeping things organised by using tools like space organisers, plastic bins, and even hooks. Your batched items will stay together when they have a specific tool to keep them that way.
Let’s Go Room by Room
Most people have more than one cluttered room and decluttering them all take different steps. We’ve broken down some tips room by room so you can use it as a checklist for each space you organise.
Bathroom
Take everything out of your medicine cabinet, then wipe down the shelves. Throw away expired medicine, creams, or makeup. Put everything back, storing the items you use most at eye level.
Do the same thing with your vanity drawers. If you store anything under the sink, repeat the process there too.
Bedroom
As much as we’re on the children to keep their rooms tidy, our bedroom can use some decluttering too. Pull everything out of your bedside table and put away anything that shouldn’t be there. Most often, you’ll find books you’ve read or broken glasses.
You may find old bills or old statements. There might be an old magazine or two hidden inside. Recycle what you can and toss out the rest.
Mudroom
The purpose of a mudroom is to be an orderly transition from the outside to indoors but it’s often one of the most cluttered rooms in your house. The three things all mudrooms should have is coat hooks, storage baskets or cupboards, and a seat.
Mark all family member’s names on their basket or cupboard so everyone’s things are in one place. Putting up hooks will keep school bags from lying on the mucked up floor.
A seating area will ensure everyone’s taking off their shoes and sandals in one area and not kicking them off all throughout the mudroom. If you have a bench seat, shoes can get stored underneath if you don’t have space for cupboards.
Kitchen
The most important note about the kitchen is too keep everything together in groups. Your tableware and dinnerware should go in the same cabinet, your cookware and bakeware should get stored together, and so on.
Clean out your kitchen cabinets and drawers and wiped them all down. Use drawer organisers to keep items sorted.
An area that is often cluttered is the fridge. Take everything out and throw away anything that’s gone bad or expired. Before putting your items back in, wipe your shelves down.
When you do put what you’re keeping back in, keep the drinks and food consumed most on the middle shelves near the front. Move the things that you don’t use or consume as much toward the back.
Closets
We’ve saved the most harrowing space for last! Organising your closets can be stressful, but as long as you stick to the plan of getting rid of what you don’t use/need/love, you’ll work through it in no time.
Get baskets for your accessories and racks or shelves for your shoes. Don’t store things in your wardrobe that should go in the mudroom or linen closet. Come up with a system of staying organised, like sorting by season or colour.
Bring Sparkle and Shine Back Into Your Home
When you set out on your decluttering adventure, make sure you allow yourself enough time to get it all done. The last thing you want to do after finding out how to organise your home is that you can’t finish. You’ll leave yourself with a bigger mess then when you started!
For more tips on organising your closet, check out our closet makeover guide. If you need help with cleaning your home or laundry, go ahead and give the pros a call.
