I must admit, I’m a little uneasy at the prospect of accomplishing ‘6 Weeks to a More Organized Home.’ Between my husband and me, he is the more organized one in this household. No sooner does he purchase something than he immediately ensures it is secured, tied down, strapped in, hung up, locked away, stacked, filed, folded or placed in its appropriate location. Neat freak 😉 I, on the other hand…? Well, let’s just say that I love closed storage! As the messier one, I am a big fan of furniture that doubles as storage, thus easily hiding away books, papers, magazines and all those little things that can accumulate in the home. From storage cubes to storage benches and tv storage units (are you noticing a theme here?) to side tables that are originally built to be bedside tables, I am a firm believer in using double-duty furniture in the home. If you saw my home tour post, you can easily spot this furniture all over the home! While there are always going to be plenty of surfaces to display cherished items, like our coffee table (for display tips, click here), it can often be more challenging to keep open storage neat and tidy.
And yet, I do strive to be neater, tidier and more organized in the home. Really, I do! Between working fulltime (and living quite a distance from work) and doing the usual chores of dishes, laundry, dinner, and basic house cleaning, I find I have only a few spare moments to myself – and when I do, organizing my pantry or linen closet is the last thing on my mind!
Recently, however, I’ve been more determined than ever to stop thinking about ‘some day’ getting more organized, and actually forging ahead. I was especially inspired by Kristen over at her blog, Practical Mommy, after she posted her “5 Ways to Create the Perfect Summer Bucket List.” Although summer is already halfway over – sniff! – I decided that it was never too late to start that list.
I had already been ‘pinning’ items on one of my Pinterest Boards called, ‘An Organized Home, An Organized Life.’ (Just click on the Pinterest bar below the images and you’ll be taken directly to the board).
Follow Jelica @ A Pretty Fix’s board an organized home… on Pinterest.
I decided, therefore, that there is simply no time like the present to begin creating my own home organization bucket list.
The Plan
The first thing I did was to set realistic goals for myself.
#1 Timeframe:
‘6 Weeks to a More Organized Home,’ seemed sensible, given time, resources, and budget constraints.
#2 Target Areas:
I stuck to 3 high-traffic, well-used areas: Kitchen, Bathroom, & Linen Closet. I then broke these down into 6, ‘bite-sized’ zones:
- kitchen pantry
- kitchen junk drawer
- under the kitchen sink (there’s clearly a kitchen theme here 😉 )
- linen closet
- under the bathroom sink
- bathroom drawers (including makeup organization)
Any more than 6 zones and the list will become more of an ideal rather than a realistic goal. Small and bite-sized, I’ve decided, is the way to go. I’m also determined to embrace the process, regardless of how it ultimately turns out. We’ve all experienced times when we’ve planned something and put in a lot of time and effort into it only to see that it did not turn out quite how we had envisioned it. I’ve had enough of those experiences to realize that aspirations are great to have, but we needn’t kick ourselves when we don’t achieve all that we set out from the beginning. It would be great to get each of these zones in order in exactly the way I envision, but I may only achieve a part of the vision. And that’s okay. It will be a step in the right direction. My inspiration? Articles and blog posts saved on my Pinterest board. Here are just some of my favourites (if one them speak to you, click on the link to go directly to the article or blog):
Pantry Organizing Tips // Source: Blesser House
Junk Drawer Organizing Tips // Source: Good Housekeeping
Tips for Organizing Under the Kitchen Sink // Source: Good Housekeeping
Linen Closet Organizing Tips // Source: Better Homes and Gardens
Tips for Organizing Under the Bathroom Sink // Source: Apartment Therapy
Makeup Organizing & Cleaning Tips // Source: I Heart Organizing
Bonus Tip – The Pretty Fix:
One more thing that will help keep me motivated – and anyone else up for the challenge — is to make this more than just another home organization project. Not only do I want to get more organized, but to make an effort to ‘prettify’ each area in the process. If something looks pretty, not only will it be pleasing to the eye, but it will make me want to keep it organized. Does anyone else out there agree? The additional challenge here will be to do this on a budget. Everyone’s financial limitations will differ, but for my inspiration I have one great blog post that I keep on the same Pinterest board that show you how to organize your home on a budget and keep it pretty, too:
Source: The Happy Housie
I hope my own journey of ‘6 Weeks to a More Organized Home’ and the links included above will inspire you to tackle your storage and organizational challenges. I’ll be posting the final results in 6 weeks (no need to bore you with the entire process – unless something interesting pops up that I simply can’t wait to share 😉 ). If you are inspired by the idea of creating your own summer bucket list – or maybe just tackling 1 neglected zone in your home – I’d love to hear from you! And any additional tips or tricks that have worked for you would be most welcome 🙂
Happy organizing 🙂
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