How to Keep an Organized House

How to Keep an Organized House

This is the biggest thing you can do, and I did it long before I became an organizer. Some people won’t have the opportunity and I really just got lucky, but here it is

. . . The biggest secret to staying organized is having a dumping area, more commonly referred to as a Storage Room.

It’s not pretty (and they don’t have to be)! It’s just the place where everything goes when we don’t know what to do with it. You might not be able to see it, but my storage room is somewhat organized. It really doesn’t matter to me if things get a little crazy in there. I don’t spend any time in this space, except to run in a grab something once in a while.

Also, remember that I live with a couple of people who are less interested in staying organized than I am.

Having this space allows me (and my family) to not deal with every single item that we touch the moment it’s in our hands. Sometimes making the decision to let go of something takes some time. And where do we put all that cute stuff that we want to keep as a memory? My wedding dress is somewhere in that storage area, which means I kept it, even though I only have sons and the dress has an awful ’80s thing going on.

When I first meet with clients and we look at their space, I always inquire about their storage space. My recommendation is that 10% of your home should be allocated to long-term storage. I am not talking about closets or garages. Just a room for all those memories, unfinished projects, holiday decorations, camping equipment, etc. Imagine if you had that luxury! It makes it so much easier to maintain an organized home when you have a purgatory of sorts.

Now let me just say, having a storage room doesn’t mean that the rest of the house will magically organize itself. It just means that you don’t have to be 100% organized every minute of every day to have an organized home.

People who don’t have that option should look at using space in the attic, garage, or spare bedroom for storage. Whatever you do, consider that 10% of your space will hold your past (memorabilia) and your future (unfinished projects).