My Mess

For the past week my home has been in chaos. We are redoing our floors in our kitchen/dinning room. We had to pull up the tile, scrape it smooth, and lay a leveler all before we can even lay down the new floor. So, the dinning furniture is in the living room and the kitchen items have been going back and forth to the office. Oh, and did I mention there's dust EVERYWHERE! It's only been a little over a week but all of this was enough to drive me crazy! It was a hard week for me, I didn't want to be home, I felt out of sorts unable to relax.
I know that my situation is very temporary and within the week all will be back to normal. But I know that a lot of people live in chaos all the time. And I have had a small sampling of how they may feel. I don't wish this on anyone. It's horrible to not want to be in your own home, to not be able to relax.

Don't live in a chaotic atmosphere, don't let stuff take over your home and your life. Get organized. Whether you decide to get help or do it yourself, make the decision to take control of your home and life. You will feel so much better when things are in order.

Tip

If your crafts/hobby supplies are getting out of hand figure out how you use them. First sort through all your items and figure out what stays and what goes. Then group items together in a way that makes sense to you. Like by item, manufacturer, color or some other way. Also, do you like to have everything put up and out of sight or do you like to see your supplies so you are more likely to use them? That will help you determine what kinds of storage solutions you need. Just figure out how you like to work and organize with that in mind.

Tip

If you get overwhelmed by the thought of cleaning/organizing an area, get someone to help you. It's good to have someone there with you to help you make decisions on what to do with an item and help keep you  accountable. Ask a friend to come help and then reciprocate. You'll also get it organized a lot faster with someone to help.

Tip

Organizing isn't a one size fits all. You have to organize for the way you live and your situation and home. For example, coat closets. They may work for most people but for us it just didn't work for me to go to the closet and hang up my coat everytime I used it. So I have several hooks by the front door and that's where all the coats, scarves and bags get hung up. This keeps everything close to where it's used, easy to use and it works for us. So just because you have a coat closet and you need a place to put your coats it doesn't mean that it's the best solution for you and your family. Figure out what works best for you.

Tip

Don't know if you should keep an item or not? Do you use it? Do you love it? Is it sentimental? If it's a no to all the questions: get rid of it. Either trash it or if it is in good condition give it away. If it's sentimental it's ok to keep. Just get a box (preferably a plastic tub with snap lid) and label it keepsakes, then store them all together.

Tip

Don't know where to start? Baby steps. Start with a small area, a closet, or cabinet. Just pull out one thing at a time and decide: keep, trash, or give away. If it's a keeper, does it stay there or belong somewhere else? If it belongs somewhere else, don't get up to go put it away. Just start a pile and when you are finished cleaning out the area then return the items where they belong. Once you have one area cleaned out and organized you will be more inspired to tackle those larger areas.