Spring isn't just a time to complete the deep cleaning tasks you've been neglecting all winter. It's also about organizing your home and taking charge of your life, two things that can leave you feeling more energized and refreshed. Two masters of the art—Joanna Teplin and Clea Shearer of Get Organized With The Home Edit—offered these helpful tips to get you started.
1. Do not confuse cleaning with organizing.
Make sure you take the time to think about your habits, your home and your lifestyle so you can come up with smart solutions that you can keep.
2. Once you've created a functional system, it comes down to the 80/20 philosophy:
Don't keep your house more than 80 percent full and set aside at least 20 percent for breathing room. Once items run out of the system, they run out of houses and that's where the clutter piles up.
3. Label your categories, or sort by color, which is a labeling system in itself!
Labels provide an easy-to-use roadmap to where items are found and where they belong.
4. Think about who uses the space.
Where and how you position your zones is the key to successful maintenance. For example, should you keep items on low shelves so your kids can reach them, or on a high shelf out of their reach?
5. At the end of the day, all that matters is that you keep your stuff.
It doesn't matter what kind of tank that is. Everything just needs a home. Bins create zones and zones create systems! Not only do they give items a designated space, but they also hold you accountable for not exceeding that space.
6. If the system doesn't work for you, disable it so it does.
As new items are added, it is important to set aside some time each month to check and clean up anything that is not needed.
7. Start each project with an edit.
This means removing each item from the room, grouping them into categories, and removing what you no longer want or need. Only then can you choose a functional system that best suits your space and the items that live in it.
