Spring is in the air, and for many that tends to instigate an overwhelming desire to start fresh, clear space, clean, and of course - organize. In fact, TULA organization requests come Spring almost double. “Organize my closet, our pantry, my kids dresser, my spice drawer, under my sink, my garage, my office”...and on and on. There is simply no doubt a sense of order and understanding of where things are brings a huge sense of relief to our clients and TULA assistants are always happy to help!Below are our top 6 tips for making organization projects a success.
In most cases, our clients have a list of several areas in their home they want to get under control. Our advice...start with one. Maybe it's the space you and your family are in the most often, maybe it's the drawers you avoid opening because they give you anxiety each time you do, maybe its the room that everyone sees immediately when they walk in your home. Whatever your priorities, select one area and stick to it. When you start many projects at one time it becomes harder to actually complete one, and you lose focus. When you are able to focus on one area, you're able to complete quicker and cross that off your list (which is our favorite thing to do), which can motivate you to keep going!
Don't expect organization to happen overnight. Organizing requests and projects hands down almost ALWAYS take longer than you think. Depending on the area to be organized, make sure to schedule a couple of hours each day to work on getting the area organized.
Go through everything in that particular area. Take everything out. Sort the items (keep, donate, sell). For closets- if you haven't worn the item in two years- it's time to give it away. You likely won't even notice it is gone. After you've removed these items, take a look at what remains and make sure everything that is left makes sense to be there. Consider- is there another place where you've got more room to keep it, or another area where it would be more easily accessible for its purpose? i.e. does it make sense to keep wrapping paper in the pantry or is there a better place for this?
Under the beds, behind the doors, and above cabinets are all very often overlooked opportunities to create more space. Go "up", create storage space between cabinets or shelves and ceiling and store things that you don't use as frequently up high.
Whether you're working to organize the family room or find just a little more order or wanting to go full on Home Edit, there is no doubt that using color sorting enhances efforts (and appearance!) Assign each family member a different colored container to keep his or her belongings in and keep them responsible for cleaning up after themselves. Organize projects, bills and other important papers by function and color in your home office. Organizing clothes first by type and then secondarily by color, makes it very easy to find what you are looking for- and even what you didn't know you were looking for when you're able to go to a color category to match with your outfit you're able to find options that you didn't remember you even had!
When you can use transparent containers or can easily label so you can read or SEE the contents of the containers. Additionally, make sure that the items you need most often are the easiest to access and place the items you don't need to get to as often on a higher shelf or in another area.
All of this feeling very out of reach or overwhelming? Of course, we (TULA) are always there to execute all these steps for you! :) We've recently onboarded a few exceptional organization-enthusiasts and they have hit the ground running so get your projects submitted today!