One thing is certain. After this past year, everyone is looking to start 2021 off fresh. But New Year’s resolutions can start out as a great idea for improving your life and then become a discouraging and difficult goal later. Sometimes, the best way to go about “getting your life together” is to start with small, tangible goals. For example, you can focus on getting the house organized.
Even that can be a difficult goal to carry out, though. After all, there are a lot of rooms to sort through. Fortunately, we have a collection of New Year’s resolutions to organize your home room by room that you can feel good about.
Kitchen – Clean Out and Rehome
When you go to organize your kitchen, focus on two ideas: “clean out” and “rehome.” Go through your pantry, drawers, and cupboards. Throw out expired foods, broken tools, and outdated utensils, and give away things you don’t use anymore. Then, take the rest and group it according to what you use it for. For example, you might group things by the following categories:
- Spices
- Pasta
- Soup
- Bowls
- Baking tools (i.e., cookie cutters, rubber spatulas)
- Pots and pans
- Serving utensils
For every group you have, pick a new “home” for it to live in, whether it’s in a drawer, cupboard, or bin in the pantry.
Home Office – Purge and Place
This same idea can be brought into the home office. Start by going through the papers and materials in your office to get an idea of what is there and what you can toss. It’s ok if this part of the process takes a few sessions to complete. Purging the office one drawer at a time will help you build up the motivation to complete the task and ensure you don’t throw out anything important.
When it comes to finding a new place for the paperwork, consider whether your space would benefit from additional storage space. For example, adding an extra set of drawers, more shelves, or getting a bigger desk might help. Also, consider getting a strong box for more sensitive documents.
Closets – Utilize Space
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to organize your bedroom closet or your linen closet—the key to proper organization is finding ways to fully utilize the space you have. Instead of stacking the shoes along the ground, invest in a shoe rack that can store more things in a smaller space. If the area permits, attach a secondary bar at a lower level to store twice as many things. If not, attach hooks to the walls to store extra coats, scarves, and bags.
Making the resolution to organize your home is a great way to start the year. But don’t allow it to become a source of stress. If you take it one room and one section at a time and focus on purging and replacing, you’ll have a reorganized space in no time.