How to get Your Home in Order

    Home organization is a big task, and one most people never want to tackle. It's just too overwhelming. With so many minor disaster zones in your home, you don't know where to start or how to do it. Besides, there's a reason everything ended up in that back closet you can no longer open without things falling on you. You don't have any other place to put that stuff.
    Not so, according to Master Simplifier Cynthia Ivie. Any home can easily become orderly, and there are some big benefits that come from tackling home organization.
    "[Home organization] is not about searching for a pair of shoes or a belt in your closet or a particular hand bag or anything like that, or a document you need for tax filing season," Cynthia said. "It's about having everything in a place where you have a sense of security underneath you, where you can find what you need when you need it, so you have more time to devote to a better quality of life."     
    Getting that extra free time Cynthia makes sound so attractive is easy. Within a few hours you can turn those disaster zones into organized zones where everything is pretty and neat - but more importantly so easy to find. Wouldn't that be great? Below are the six steps to home organization Cynthia shared with me during our chat.

Step 1. The Home Organization Starting Point

    Don't work your way up to the biggest task; you need to tackle the area that's causing you the most stress first thing.
    "For most people that will be one of two, one of three areas: the closet, the kitchen or the garage," Cynthia explained. "If you take your life into your own hands trying to pull your car out of the garage every morning and every night, then, you know, it's the last thing you see when you leave for the day and it's the first thing you see when you come home at night. So that creates a kind of instantaneous kind of stress."
    By eliminating the biggest stressor first, you'll instantly gain the most by ridding yourself of all that stress. Also, you'll the biggest reminder of how great the other areas of your house will be once you tackle them as well. It works as an incentive, Cynthia said.

Step 2. The Similar Sort

    Now that you've picked out the biggest pain in your day, it's time to get everything into plain view. Empty out the drawers, cabinets, boxes, bins, bags and whatever else is holding all your stuff. It's the only way you'll really get to see what you're working with. Then sort it all into piles, putting like things together: spoons with spoons, socks with socks, air compressors with air compressors and so on.
    "People are often surprised by how much duplication they have accumulated," Cynthia said. "You know, six wine pulls, 24 pairs of running shoes, 16 ball caps. People often buy duplicates because they can't find the original."

Step 3. The Un-Painful Purge

    Thinking about purging - getting rid of - the unnecessary items in your home is painful for most. You've held onto those items for this long, and you have no intention of separating from them. I know how that feels. But purging your home is not about loosing items. It's about purifying your life. And when you purify, you get rid of everything that doesn't enhance your well-being.
    So instead of asking yourself, "Do I need this," which you'll always answer yes to, ask yourself, "Does this item make my life easier or happier?" If the answer is no, it's time for you and that item to part.
    When you look at each item in that way, you'll find it much easier to sort through and determine what to keep and what to give away. If you still find purging slightly painful, remember every item you give away makes it easier to find the ones you need. That's a pretty good incentive.
    After separating all of your items into "give away" and "throw away" piles, box or bag those two piles up and take them out of the room. It's time to start putting things back together.

Step 4. The Coordinated Containers
    
    Containers are one of the best-kept secrets of an organizer. Having a different container for each type of item keeps shelves and drawers clear of clutter. But don't head out to the store and start shopping for containers coordinated with your room's color scheme or style. Oh, no. All containers should be coordinated according to function.
    I know it may sound hard at first. How do you know a container will function well before using it? According to Cynthia, you need to think about how you prefer to have your items.
    "The first thing you have to do is stop to think about what's easy for you," Cynthia suggested. "The biggest mistake that people make is to try and create a closet like they might see in a magazine of a store, it needs to be easy for you. For example, do you prefer to hang or fold your jeans, do you prefer to hang or fold your t-shirts. Those are two items that could go either way. Most people prefer to fold their knits, but people need to know in advance if the like to have things hung, folded, in closed containers or out on open shelves."

Step 5. The Prime Real Estate Put-Together

    When it comes to putting your items away, Cynthia looks at the shelves in your room or closet as separate areas or more accurately, separate properties.
    "There is a natural flow to every room, and it's up to you to determine what that flow is," Cynthia said. "We at White Space we use a principal called the Theory of Prime Real Estate, which is, whatever you use most often needs to be easiest to access and closest at hand."
    Basically, whatever you use most often has a higher value and therefore gets the "Prime Real Estate," which in organizing is the most convenient location. That will ensure you can quickly and easily get what you use most often, saving you time and energy.

Step 6. The Letting Go of the Leftovers

    It's almost inevitable. You've sorted, purged, arranged and put almost everything in their properly organized place when you run out of room. Cynthia suggests you not try and cram just one more item in. Remember, the goal is ease of use, and jumbled, squished items are not easy to get out or put away. Luckily, you have a couple options.
    "You either go back and reassess and decide that you're only going to accommodate what you have room to accommodate or you look for auxiliary storage somewhere else and you assign things, again, a priority," Cynthia said. "You make decisions based on what's important to you now. And that's what stays in your immediate area. Everything else can be sent out to an outlying closet in the home."