10 Tips for an Organized Home

I love to keep things organized. Sometimes I'm a little OCD about it. I think you just feel better when your home is organized. So, here are my top 10 tips for keeping your home organized.

 (Thanks to a couple of my sweet sponsors for helping me create this list!)

1. Have a place for everything.
The first step to having an organized home is having a specific place for your things. It's important to be consistent with this so that everyone in the house knows where to find items when they're needed and where to put them when they're finished with them. You even want to make sure to have your medical supplies organized and handy like Erica from We Three Crabs shares in this post.

We created a space on the wall in our closet for our hats.

2. Put things back where they go when you're finished with them. 
This is the easiest way to keep your home organized. When you finish with something, don't leave it out. It takes a few seconds to put something back where it came from. (This tip was also shared by Cody from Catching Cody K)

My husband has trouble with this one as you can see by the shoes that clearly don't belong on the floor.

3. Clean out at least once a year.
Figure out a time of year that works best for you. I usually do this in the spring time. Whatever time you choose, at least once a year you need to go through each room in your house. As you go through, get rid of things you no longer need or use. Also, organize or reorganize the things you decide to keep.

You can read about how I cleaned out my closet and my pantry this past year. 

4. Create a meal menu and grocery shopping system.
To keep from buying food you don't need, create a menu of meals you want to make that week or month.

You can read more on how I plan my meals here. 

5. Keep your paperwork organized.
Families can accumulate a lot of paperwork. In my opinion, binders are the best way to organize papers. Erica from We Three Crabs wrote a great post on her family's binder. Right now we keep our important paperwork in an accordion file, but my plan is to organize it all in a binder soon. We also keep a binder for all our receipts we may need for tax purposes. We have it organized into different sections such as household items, school items, items I buy for work, etc.

6. Bins, boxes, and baskets are your friend.
It can be a little costly to get enough of these to begin with, but it's worth it. My suggestion is to buy a few at a time. Having things in bins, boxes, or baskets just makes your house look so much more organized and streamlined.

7. Do a little bit every day rather than trying to do it all in one day.
It's so easy to let housework pile up. Yet, this makes it harder to get it done. Rather than letting the housework pile up and trying to do it all in one day, create a cleaning schedule. Each day do a few things that need to get done. In my opinion, this also helps keep your house cleaner on a daily basis. (This tip was also shared by Cody from Catching Cody K.)

Wash dishes after cooking each meal to prevent dirty dishes piling up. I also have a certain day of the week when I wash clothes and when I put them up.

8. Keep a calendar.
Even in this day of advanced technology, I like to have some things down on paper. That includes my schedule. I keep a calendar on our refrigerator and I have a planner that I carry back and forth between home and work. It's easier to keep up with and remember things when they're right there in front of you. If you're a blogger, Cody from Catching Cody K highly recommends a calendar to keep up with your blog posts schedule and ideas.

9. Use items in unusual ways.
Be creative in your organization. A shoe box can be used to hold medicine bottles. A hanging shoe organizer makes a great organizer for a pantry or laundry room.  Utensil baskets can be turned into a spice rack. Think outside the box for cheap organization ideas.

10. Use labels and color coding.
I love putting labels on things-especially things that are in closed in boxes. It makes it so much easier to find what you're looking for without having to open everything up. Have things labeled also helps with tip #1 and #2. When things are labeled, they have a place and people know where to put them. Color coding is also a good organization system. I personally use color coding on my calendars. Different colors mean different types of events.

How do you keep your home organized?