Clutter can get away from the best of us. For many, all it takes is a few demanding months at the office or a packed after-school schedule with kids, and the home slowly transforms into a heap of clutter.
However, keeping a mess-free home is within reach, provided you follow a few simple rules. And the benefits are undeniable. Studies show organized spaces improve mental clarity, reduce stress, boost productivity, and foster confidence.
Moreover, organizing your home can increase its value; several of the best real estate agents advise sellers to implement organization systems ahead of their big sale to amplify their home’s chances of a fast, lucrative sale.
Whether you’re aiming for mental clarity or top real estate dollars, here’s how to keep a hyper-organized home.
Start by Categorizing and Reducing
First thing’s first: Before you get creative with where you store excess items, you must determine what to store. This process is labour-intensive, but you can achieve it in a weekend—maybe less if the whole family gets involved.
Start by creating four piles for all excess items: keep, sell, donate, and trash. (If you’re really pressed for time, you can shrink that list to “keep” and “trash.”). Working item by item, methodically categorize everything, then cap the day off with trips to the local thrift store, auction house, dump, etc. If all goes well, this step alone will get you 50% of the way toward a clutter-free home.
Maximize Your Walls and Furniture with Built-in Storage
Decluttering is partly about reducing, but it’s also about keeping surfaces clear and creating the illusion of minimalism. To achieve clear sightlines, get creative with built-in and in-furniture storage solutions.
Consider floor-to-ceiling shelving, hooks, and pegboards in the common areas to house items that might otherwise languish on countertops or the floor. Next, brainstorm room-specific storage solutions like hanging pots in the kitchen, garage hooks for tools, and under-the-bed storage drawers in bedrooms.
Finally, prioritize furniture and design items that double up as storage spaces: built-in bench seating, storage ottomans, sideboards, and stylish decor pieces like baskets or trunks can also serve as storage. If you’re lucky, you can use the funds you gathered from selling excess items in the first step to bankroll these storage solutions.
These items look fantastic and detract from the visual clutter—a win-win for homeowners.
Declutter Your Entryway for Positive First Impressions
Entryways are a common source of clutter. They also happen to be the first thing people see when they enter your home. Therefore, it’s essential to pay extra attention to their tidiness.
Essentially, follow the steps above. Start by paring down unwanted items. Then, implement solutions like wall hooks, slim cabinets, shoe racks, and hanging baskets to keep the space organized and visually clear.
This process is especially important for home sellers since prospective buyers make big, critical decisions within seconds of stepping into a property. Contact the best realtors you can find to brainstorm decluttering tactics before you welcome viewers.
Label Everything for a Streamlined System
Let’s be honest: It can be easy to lapse. Even if you declutter your home top-to-bottom in a one-time burst of organizing energy, there are no guarantees it will stay that way.
And that’s where labelling and systematizing comes in handy. You can think of the labelling process as an investment in your ability to keep things tidy in the future. By meticulously documenting where every new and existing item needs to go, you will have implemented an easy-to-follow system when life gets busy. Labels can also make it easier for family members to maintain organizational systems, minimizing chaos. These labels can stick right on the storage solutions themselves (somewhere inconspicuous), or in a shared digital document.
An uncluttered home is a happy, stress-free, real-estate-friendly home. Carve out a couple of weekends—and a couple of trips to the home supply store—to create a hyper-organized space using the tips above.
Also Read –Essential Tips for Maintaining Your Home’s HVAC System
