Who doesn’t love a welcoming home? As much as we want to always live in a tranquil one, we know the house is not going to clean itself. But sometimes, it can get overwhelming — especially when we stalled out on doing it for so long that the thought of organizing one’s home becomes a dreadful task. And the longer we procrastinate cleaning day, the worse our mental state can get.

Simple Ways to Organize Your Home:

When the mind is in shambles, the thought of organizing your home shouldn’t be a part of the reasons why. Here are easy tips that you can use so your home is less cluttered.

Note: these tips aren’t in order so feel free to organize your home based on which ones are easier for you to start on.

Throw away/recycle unwanted belongings

Some objects have sentimental value to them. So there’s nothing wrong with wanting to keep them around. But sometimes, too much of the tchotchke can become a sight for eyesore. Determine which items you’re willing to let go — and perhaps donate to the ones who need them more. You can improve your mental state if you know you’re helping others out by giving away things that meant something to you.

You can put your items in one box and have another empty one beside it. With each and every trinket you grab, think about whether or not you want to put it on display again or if it’s something your home can do without; this system goes for clothes also.

Label your items

We’re all guilty of storing food, herbs, and boxes of clothing longer than they should be stored — and there might have been instances that they were left stored for too long because we don’t remember what they were in the first place. Sure, we can trust our eyes and noses to determine which spice is in the jar. But between cayenne pepper and chili powder? That’s when our own senses can betray us.

Thankfully, the worst thing that can happen when eating an expired dried spice is eating a less-than-flavorful meal. However, if you put sauerkraut and kimchi in the picture, that’s when things can get dangerous — welcome only positive energy in your home, not food poisoning! Therefore, there are more reasons to label your items — and write dates as to when you made them so you know their shelf life — than reasons why you shouldn’t. This also goes for the boxes in the attic, garage, and closets. You wouldn’t want to rummage each and every one of them just to find one gadget or article of clothing.

Organize your clutter

Sure. A pen and a pad of paper in the kitchen is understandable — after all, many of us had to tweak recipes here and there and wanted to keep note of it. But there are some doodads that simply don’t belong in certain areas of the house. Swishing these things to make room for a workspace won’t do your mind any good.

There can be some cases when compartmentalizing is healthy. But if you really want a clean mental slate as soon as you wake up, find the mental fortitude to get overwhelmed with clutter in one go. You can put these items in containers or boxes with labels for every room they should be in. Then, you can do tip #1 again.

“First in, first out”

If kids fear monsters in their closets, adults also sometimes fear wardrobes that succumbed to dry rot and dust. This one’s one of the more common (but effective) tips — store freshly-washed clothes at the bottom of the rest of your apparel so all can get washed regularly.

Another widely-known tip is having all the hangers (of the ensemble that you hang) face one direction. And after you wear and wash them, hang that piece of clothing with the hanger facing the opposite side — this way, you’ll know which among those garments you didn’t use for, say, the past 6-12 months. You can then determine if you want to give it away or if you want to recycle it into something else.

Keep things clean

It’s one thing to declutter — but to maintain your home decluttered is another. We all know that regularly cleaning your home is easier said than done. However, as daunting as it is, there isn’t really much of an option — and keeping your mind off of tidying up your nook isn’t exactly healthy for you. If it’s THAT difficult to do, however, you can try scheduling which hours of the day you’d want to clean your home and which kinds of cleaning activities you’d be most comfortable doing depending on the time.

Not feeling like making the bed as soon as you get up in the morning? You can do it after your morning coffee kicks in! As long as you do it, that’s all that matters. Cleaning alone is an achievement when you’re not motivated enough to do it. But that doesn’t mean it should always be a distressing activity to do — listen to your favorite music, have your favorite Netflix show playing in the background, talk to your friends, and do just about whatever’s enjoyable to you so you don’t have to associate organizing your home with negative emotions.

In Other Words,

If we can all just magically wake up in the morning in tip-top shape and a tidy home — but we don’t have fairy godmothers to do that for us! Until then, you’ll just have to find creative ways to organize your home. But that doesn’t mean cleaning can’t be enjoyable, especially when there are so many creative ways to organize your home.

An organized home reflects an organized mind, and vice versa. Keeping your living space neat and tidy aids in relaxation and minimizes stress.

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