Keeping your stuff and your life organized can be harder than a college physics exam. But with our list of savvy tips and tricks, it’s as easy as A-B-C.
A: Assign a Color Scheme
Banish cries of “It’s not mine!” by color-coding your kids’ gear all through the house. Stick to a signature shade for each child’s toothbrush, bath towel and backpack, so you can tell at a glance which stuff belongs to which kid. Buy a colored bin for each child, too, to use as a handy drop spot for stray toys and clothes. Each night before bed, have your kids empty their own bin, returning items to their rightful places.
B: Form a Bucket Brigade
For an easy way to stash office supplies, stock small unused paint buckets (available at home improvement stores) with tape, scissors, pens, envelopes, stamps, a calculator, etc., then hang them from over-the-door hooks tucked inside a closet. When it’s time to pay bills or write a note, bring just the buckets you need to the table.
C: Call for Help
Download reQall, a free voice recognition tool ( reQall.com), then call the toll-free number from your cell phone to leave yourself reminders, like “Email Jen tonight.” ReQall organizes the recordings and plays them back to you as lists of to-dos, notes and shopping items. If you have an iPhone or BlackBerry, the program transcribes your messages and automatically sends you reminders via e-mail or IM. You can even program in locations of places you usually go (store, dry cleaner, etc.) and reQall will use your phone’s GPS to figure out where you are, display to-dos in that area (“Buy milk”) and send you an alert.
D: Designate a Dropoff Drawer
Keep countertops clear by emptying a kitchen drawer and converting it to a grab-and-go spot. “Now your family has a place to drop cell phones and keys, the kitchen can still function, and you won’t get irritated by the mess,” says Marie Ricks, a professional organizer in Highland, Utah, and author of Organize as You Go.
E: Evaluate Your System
Live in your digs long enough and you won’t even notice what’s making your life chaotic. So take a second to think about what’s causing your biggest messes, then brainstorm solutions—like creating a cell phone recharging station on your dresser, or repurposing a stranded side table into a backpack landing pad. Can’t figure out your clutter culprits? Ask a friend for fresh-eyed help.
F: File Faster
Four folders are all you need to rein in out-of-control paperwork. Within a day of bringing it into the house, slot incoming mail and various papers into folders labeled To Do, To Pay, To File, and Pending (a halfway house for things you’re waiting to take action on, like a rebate form). Keep it up and you’ll prevent a Himalaya-like pileup on your desk.
G: Map Your Garage
Make over a garage-turned-dumping-ground by drawing a map of the space and designating a spot for everything: cars, bikes, camping gear, lawn/garden tools. After you’ve arranged your stuff, post copies of the map on the wall so everyone knows where to find things and, more important, where to return them. You can even use heavy-duty colored tape to outline storage zones on the cement.
H: Hang It Up
“I’m a mom of four and my mudroom looked like a disaster area all the time,” says Christine Vick, cofounder of the organizing website StoreandStyle.com. “So I filled a whole wall with bathrobe hooks. They make it much easier for my kids to store their coats in the winter, and their swimsuits and beach towels in the summer.”
I: Institute an All-In-One Rule
Bring order to a messy linen closet by putting folded sets of bed linens inside one of the pillowcases. No more searching for the flat sheet that matches the fitted sheet: Just grab a complete set and go.
J: Jettison Your Junk
If decluttering isn’t drop-dead easy, you’ll use that as an excuse to cling to excess stuff. So set up a recycling station in a corner of the basement and equip it with two bins—one for outgrown clothes and other castoffs to donate, one for old, unnecessary documents and other things you’re thinking of tossing. Add a paper shredder and some plastic bags to hold donations, and say goodbye to your unwanted junk.
K: Create a Mini-Kitchen
“Kitchen shelf space is prime real estate,” says Vick. “So set up a mini-kitchen someplace else where you have more room. I have a closet in my basement that I made into a storage space for things I use only once or twice a year, like fancy platters and giant stockpots.” Once you’ve put your kitchen on a diet, staying organized won’t be such a hassle.
L: Streamline Your Laundry
“For 70 percent of the women I work with, laundry is the biggest problem,” says Ricks. “They just don’t have the habit of finishing the job.” Instead of doing marathon sessions once or twice a week—and never getting through the whole pile because, let’s face it, who wants to wash all those clothes?—designate different days for different kinds of laundry: whites, darks, towels, sheets. A massive pileup is easier to tackle when you break it down into manageable chunks, and knowing exactly how much you have to get done that day helps you stay on track.
M: Maximize Your Minutes
Got a few seconds to spare? Don’t just stand there—declutter. Keep a list of super-quick organizing tasks, then tackle one when you’re, say, waiting for water to boil. Use the time to chuck expired food from the fridge. Minutes here and there can add up to a tidier house.
N: Build a Household Notebook
Restyle a three-ring binder into command central. Divvy it up with tabbed categories such as Contacts, Food and Activities. Then stock it with class phone lists, school lunch schedules, blank calendars and more so everything you need is at your fingertips. Even easier, download cute printable forms, like a weekly chore sheet or a menu planner, at TheProjectGirl.com (click on “free downloads”).
O: Organize Your Computer
So many electronic files, so little time. Locate everything you need in seconds with software like Google Desktop, recommends Catherine Cantieri, a productivity coach and owner of Sorted ( www.Get-Sorted.net) in Portsmouth, Virginia. Downloadable for free at Desktop.Google.com, the program searches your entire hard drive as quickly as you can search the web, so you can find an old e-mail or misplaced memo fast.
P: Put Up a Pegboard
“They’re great for garages, but also work well in storage closets,” says professional organizer Stephanie Shalofsky, owner of the Organizing Zone in New York City. “You can hang up things like a stepladder, dusters and mops.”
Q: Quit Collecting
Whether you hoard enamel bowls or vintage toys, collections grow like weeds and get out of control just as quickly. Set some smart ground rules: Don’t have more than two collections going at once. Don’t keep more than you can display. Come up with a do-not-exceed number—once you hit it, give away one item for every new one you add.
R: Rethink Your Storage
A place for everything and everything in its place, right? That doesn’t mean you should dash out to buy a bunch of bins the second you decide to get organized. “First assess the spaces that you want to declutter, identify what to keep, then figure out the best storage containers for the job,” suggests Shalofsky. That way you can get the exact sizes and styles that work for your needs.
S: Stash It Underneath
You’ve heard about stowing seasonal clothes like sweaters in slim bins under the bed. Don’t stop there. Also use plastic storage bags that you can vacuum-suction flat and slide them beneath footed sofas and bookcases.
T: Supersize Your Trash Can
The smaller it is, the less likely you are to throw things away. Buy a behemoth of a wastebasket and you’ll purge more freely.
U: Unclutter with Color
To make organizing less painful, place colorful dot stickers or shipping tags on things you’re not sure you’re ready to part with. If you wear the shirt, use the breadmaker, or play the board game sometime in the next six months, peel off the sticker or tag. After six months, anything that’s still dotted or tagged goes into your giveaway box.
V: Vet Your E-mail
If your inbox is constantly clogged, set your e-mail preferences to filter “I can read this later” stuff into its own folders, suggests Cantieri.
W: Waste Not, Want Not
Kitchen storage doesn’t have to stay in the kitchen: Look for ways to repurpose seldom-used items that are taking up space. Turn a spice rack into a clever spot to corral toiletries in the bathroom. Convert a utensil holder into an art supply organizer in your kid’s desk drawer.
X: Add Extra Storage
Go to extremes to find more space—use areas near the floor and ceiling. Install wooden shelving and brackets along one wall of your living room, about a foot beneath the ceiling. It’s the perfect place for an overflow of books. Then go low and line the dead zone at the bottom of a hall closet with baskets to stow extra blankets.
Y: Ditch the Yard Sale
“Yard sales are only good if you set the date when you decide to clean out,” says Ricks. “Otherwise, it’s emotionally better in the long run just to donate and be done.” Sure, you may miss out on a little cash, but you’ll keep those “on second thought” items from migrating back into the house.
Z: Zip It Up
Keep small, easy-to-lose items (craft supplies, game pieces, itsy-bitsy toys, etc.) from going MIA permanently by putting them into a zippered mesh bag each time you find one. The zipper keeps them safe, the mesh keeps them visible. Thread a ribbon through the zipper pull and hang the bag on a hook in an accessible spot. No more “Mom, I can’t find…!”