With a new year comes a fresh start for getting on top of your home organisation solutions and systems. By putting in place effective systems at the beginning of the year ensures you not only start off on the right foot but have a better chance at maintaining them throughout the year as things get busier and busier. Below are our top tips, hacks and areas of the home to streamline your organisation solutions and take things to the next level!
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Ensure Everything Has A Home
The number one rule to keeping an organised and clutter-free home is to ensure every item has a ‘home’. This may require some dedication to set up, but once created, will be a weight off your shoulders. We recommend categorising all like-minded items together and ensuring they are in a zone of the house that makes sense for their purpose. In areas such as wardrobes, playrooms and living rooms where clutter can build up easily, we suggest grabbing some beautiful baskets from stores like Freedom, Adairs or TK Maxx to collate each category. To encourage the entire household to get involved, we recommend adding sticker or swing tag labels to zones, so every member of the family knows where things are to be put back once used.
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The Pantry
The pantry is a highly used space in the home that cops the brunt of every mealtime, snack time and grocery shopping expedition. Here at Homemaker The Valley we have a few simple hacks that will help you transform, maintain and streamline your pantry to avoid an overstuffed and unorganised feel. Firstly, measure the pantry shelves and purchase some baskets or containers for each category you require to help organise. For example, cooking, snacks, drinks or baking, then categorise accordingly. We also love having a ‘backstock’ basket where you can place any overflow items as this allows for easy refills and checking of stock before the grocery shop. We love decanting pantry staples such as cereals, flour, nuts and baking supplies for a streamlined look. When decanting, a great hack is to stick a simple Dymo label on the underside of the container with the expiry date, so you can keep on top of when things are to be used by. Head into Howard’s Storage World this weekend to check out their amazing range of pantry containers to transform your space!
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The Wardrobe
Wardrobes are a space in the home that we suggest having either a seasonal or half-yearly clear out to avoid clutter build up. If there are items in your wardrobe that have not seen the light of day in over 12 months, then we suggest either donating or selling them to create more breathing room. We love using matching, felt hangers for all hanging clothes as they allow for a streamlined look and are perfect for space saving. If you fold your clothes, we suggest using the rolling technique and adding drawer dividers to your drawers to keep things neat and tidy. Lastly, any seasonal items such as swimwear or knitwear can be easily stored in baskets at the top of your wardrobe for a functional and space saving hack.
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Create A Drop-Zone
We all lead such busy lives that our living spaces can become the dumping ground for incoming items that do not have a home and as a result create a cluttered and messy look. Once you have categorised and found a ‘home’ for all your everyday items in your spaces as mentioned above, it is essential to create a ‘drop-zone’ for any incoming items that are new. This can include things like bills, homework, borrowed items, gifts or letters that do not yet have a home. We suggest creating a drop zone that is away from the kitchen and living area in a space such as the entryway, home office or garage. Create a ‘drop zone’ by using either a basket, container or in-tray and labelling it with each member of the family’s name. To ensure clutter doesn’t build up within this space, we recommend setting aside five minutes each week to go through, action and find a home for the items that have been dropped in the last week.
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Add Dates To Your Calendar
Lastly, to ensure your home remains streamlined and organised throughout the year we recommend locking in key dates early for maintaining these spaces. Just like a birthday, anniversary or event, add your ‘home organisation maintenance’ days to your calendar every month or quarter. It could be as simple as a Sunday afternoon every month, or a half day booked in at the start of each season. Home organisation and storage solutions work best when they are properly maintained and kept on top of to ensure your home stays streamlined and organised for you and your family.
