How To Purge And Organize Your Home

I’m a huge advocate for regular decluttering. Whether you live in a big or a small house, I believe that there are so many benefits that come with decluttering and organizing your space on a regular basis.

I can’t tell you enough how much I love organizing. Decluttering… not my favorite thing to do.

But in order to regain control of your surroundings and your life, you need to start by getting rid of things that you no longer use.

Today, I’m going to share some tips to help you get started on purging and organizing your home. I will walk you through the same process that I use to clean up and organize each room in my home.

The principles that I use now are the same ones that I have used for years, even when I lived in smaller spaces. I’m confident that these decluttering strategies and organization tips will change your life too. 

The Problem With ‘Stuff’

Now I understand that this is probably the last thing that you want to hear right now, but it’s important that I start with this. 

You don’t need all of that stuff!

If you are anything like me, you are probably prone to hanging on to one or two many things that just don’t add any value to your life. These things are what I like to call ‘stuff’.

The problem with holding on to too much ‘stuff’ is that it can actually drain your energy trying to keep track of everything. It’s also a huge waste of time. When you have too much stuff and no clear system for maintaining them, you’ll often spend a lot of time looking for things.

If you’re anything like me, too much clutter can also cause you to feel stressed out. In extreme situations, some people even struggle with overwhelm and anxiety when they have a house full of clutter.

It’s important to have a system or a decluttering strategy before you start to organize your house so that you don’t feel stressed and overwhelmed.

The Basics: How To purge And Organize Your Home

Step 1: Define Your Goals And Set A Timeline 

You need to start by defining clear goals for your decluttering and organization project. As you plan the project you need to be realistic about what you hope to achieve. Plan one room at a time and write down your goals as well as the timeline.

Step 2: Identify Your Strategy

Each room in your house will have different needs. Identify what strategy you are going to use in each room.

I like to create three separate piles or boxes. I label them: Keep, Throw Away, and Store for later.

As you go through the rooms in your house, identify which items will go in which pile.

Step 3: Extreme decluttering: get rid of stuff!

Getting rid of stuff is the most difficult step in the entire organization process because we all like to hold on to things.

Holding on to stuff may feel comforting on a certain level, but the truth is that once you get rid of them, you will start to realize that you have way more space than you previously thought.

Have a serious think about the things that you are holding on to. Are you keeping them because you feel that you might use them someday? I used to be that way. But then I realized that if there is something that I haven’t used in the past 6 months, I’m unlikely to use it.

The 6 Month Strategy

As you go through your house, keep track of how you use the items in your house, making note of the last time you used them. You can use 6 months as a benchmark. If there’s anything you haven’t used for over 6 months, start by getting rid of them.

 

The Marie Kondo Strategy

Alternatively, you can choose to use the Marie Kondo strategy. As you go through each of the items in your home, ask yourself: does this spark joy?

You need to be honest with yourself about this because if it doesnt spark joy, you have to get rid of it.

There are many things that you can decide to do with the ‘stuff’ you no longer need.

1. Give them to family or friends
2. Donate to a charity
3. Have a garage sale or sell online

You’ll need to plan for each of these scenarios.

Once you have had a good purge, it’s time to have some fun organizing your space.

Let’s be really clear- organizing a small space doesn’t have to cost you a ton of money. You just need to have a strategy in place and the right mindest to help you acheive your goals.

 

How To Purge and organize a small bedroom

Let’s face it, bedrooms have a tenancy to become a dumping ground for things that don’t have a clear home in the rest of the house.

It is a private area, so likely not somewhere that your guests will see on a regular basis.

For this reason, a lot of people tend to collect stuff and clutter in their bedrooms, but a cluttered bedroom is really not helpful when you are trying to destress.

Start by decluttering your drawers.

You would be surprised at all the random stuff that you have collected in your drawers over the years. Take out every single thing that is in the drawers and sort them out using either the 6 month strategy or the Marie Kondo strategy that I mentioned earlier.

Get rid of thethings that dont belong and the things that you no longer need.

 

Keep Surfaces Clean and clear

It is ok to have a few decorative pieces on your dresser or nightstand. But limit it to just that otherwise, it can start to look cluttered and disorganized. As a general rule, I like to set a limit of 3-5 things on any surface in my bedroom. This forces me to use other storage items and think critically about what I’m chosing to store in the bedroom.

Use Storage Bins

If you choose to store seasonal items like sweaters and coats in your bedroom, you can use storage bins to store them in.

You can find storage bins that fit underneath your bed. This is an easy solution to organize your bedroom even when you have limited space.

 

How To Purge and organize a small kitchen

Your kitchen is likely the heart of your home. But it can also be a place where lots of random things that you actually need go missing when you don’t have a clear system for sorting them out.

We keep dishes, cutleries, small appliances, food, spices, pots, pans and many other things that dont seem to go well together in the kitchen. All of these are competing for space and oftentimes, there isn’t enough space for all of them.

Clean and clear kitchen countertops

When you don’t haver a lot of space to work with, your countertops can become a dumping ground for miscelaneous kitchen appliances and things use on a regular basis. However, your kitchen countertops should be as empty as possible. Keeping the countertops clear helps to give the illusion of a larger and more organized space.

Make use of the wall space

If you have the space on your wall, why not try hanging some utensils? This is a great way to free up counter space and also drawer space. It also looks great!

Divide The Kitchen Into Zones

This can go a long way in organizing the kitchen space. Not only this, but it will also save you time. Instead of looking for things in different parts of your kitchen, you can be sure that everything you need for a process is in the same area.

An example of this would be to store cooking utensils, pots, and pans near the stove so that they are in a convenient place for you to use when you need to cook.

Use Storage Bins & Organizers

You can also use storage bins inside of your cabinets and in your pantry to organize things further.

How To purge and organize a living room

Your living room can easily get cluttered with toys, books, blankets, wires, and chords. Because it is such a highly used room, it can be difficult to organize your living room (and keep it organized).

Remove Items that don’t belong

A lot of things tend to find their way into the living room. Start by removing the ones that don’t belong in that space.

Add More Storage

A great tip that you can use to organize your living room is to add more storage. Use storage bins and ottomans to hide toys, magazines, and other things that can easily clutter up space.

You can also install shelving for books, DVD’s and video games that tend to sit on surfaces and clutter them up.

Blanket ladders like this one that I have in my breakfast nook, have grown in popularity. They don’t take up a lot of space and they are a really easy way to organize while also adding a decorative touch. These work especially well when you don’t have a lot of space.

How To purge and organize a small bathroom

Keep The Surfaces Clean And Clear

The same concept applies in your bathroom as in the other rooms in your home. Keeping the surfaces clean and clear helps to make the space look more organized.

Minimize Clutter

Get rid of things that you don’t need in your bathroom. Empty bottles are a huge offender in the bathroom. Once you get rid of these, you’ll have much more space to work with.

As you start to declutter, you may even be surprised by the items that you have duplicates of. For instance, do you have 3 different brands of shampoo when you only need one?

Take an audit and get rid of the things that you don’t absolutely need multiples of.

Use Layers And Stack

A lot of bathrooms are designed with single compartment cabinets. To make the most of that space, you can store your items in small storage bins or shoe boxes and stack them on top of each other.

Have A Section For Frequently Used Items

Keep a drawer or have an area designated for frequently used items such as your toothbrush, toothpaste, and other things that you use on a daily basis. These should be in an area that is easy to gain access to.

How To purge And Organize Your Home, Even When It feels Overwhelming

Organizing your home can feel overwhelming. Especially when you have a lot of ‘stuff’ to work with. Here are some things to remember as you purge and organize your home to make the process less stressful.

1. Start Small

You don’t have to organize your entire house in one day. In fact, I highly recommend starting with one room at a time. Only work on that room until the organization project is complete. Once done, you can move on to the next space in your home. 

2. this Is Not A One Time Event

Purging and organizing your home is not a once and done thing. Your home will naturally change over time. No matter how careful and intentional you are about organizing, new stuff will always find its way inside your home. Don’t get hard on yourself about this. It’s normal.

You just have to make decluttering and organizing a regular habit by doing it often.

3. Remember Your Why

The decluttering and organizing process is difficult, but one of the things that will always keep you grounded is being clear on exactly why you are doing it.

Remember your why and come back to it often so that you can find the motivation to push through when you feel overwhelmed with the organization process.

I hope that you found these tips and strategies helpful. Learning how to declutter and organize your house is not a one-time solution. It is something that you need to do and make a continuous part of your life. You may decide to repeat this process every 3 months or do a mini session every month.

It takes work but it’s totally worth the effort.

Are you ready to start implementing?

Leave a comment below and let me know which of these strategies you found the most helpful.

 

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