Bring order to the chaotic and cluttered areas of your home with these can-do solutions for creating well-edited and well-organized spaces that will stay that way.
1: A Perfectionist Personality
If labels make your pulse race, if you alphabetize your cookbooks, and/or sort clothes in your closet by color, then you might have what professional organizer Audrey Thomas calls a librarian’s organization personality. You thrive on order and subscribe whole-heartedly to the motto “a place for everything, and everything in its place.” But don’t let your own perfectionism stop you from starting a project. Having a functional home is far more important than having a perfect one. Use these ideas to conquer problems areas in an efficient fashion. Plus, download our free tip sheet for streamlining your filing system.
2: Mudroom Makeup
Successfully manage the influx of papers and outerwear near your home’s main entry point with a combination of open shelving, seating, and hooks. A repurposed bookshelf provides dual benefits: Its table surface gives you an immediate place to drop items, while the shelves below keep shoes, outdoor accessories, and other small items neatly contained. A corner bench encourages family members to remove their shoes before they track dirt into the house. Hooks keep coats, bags, and hats at the ready. If you have space, add open shelving or cubbies up high to house baskets or bins.
3: Individual Lockers
Personal cubbies make it easy for the whole family to access and organize coats, bags, books, and shoes. Plus, they give young family members a sense of ownership that encourages them pick up after themselves. To get everyone on the same page about household chores, consider hanging a weekly to-do checklist from a clipboard inside each cubby.
Click here to read more from Better Homes and Garden: 20 Savvy Ways to Stay Organized
