Pick a room, any room--and find something to organize in it. Here are 10 simple ideas, one for each room in your home.

1. Kitchen: Survey your blender, indoor grill, mixer, bread maker and any other appliances currently taking up space on your kitchen counter. If you never use it, rather than allowing it to continue gathering dust, give it away to your favorite charity. If you use it, but less than once each week, stow it away in a cabinet or your pantry so it's not taking up valuable counter space. You can always pull it out when you need it.

2. Bathroom: Empty out your medicine cabinet completely. Discarding any expired medications, old cosmetics, rusted razor blades and jars, cans or containers of anything you no longer use. Then, return anything you plan to keep back into the medicine cabinet, keeping similar items together. If necessary, contain small items such as bobby pins in 3 ounce paper cups or empty film canisters.

3. Bedroom: What's lurking under your bed? While using that space under your bed for a few choice items is not a bad idea, there should certainly not be clutter there. Remove any objects that don't belong, such as stray socks, shoes, spare change or toys. Consider getting a rolling under the bed storage container to store an extra blanket or two. We actually store the two leaves to our dining room table under our bed. They're safe there, and don't take up extra space in our closet.

4. Living Room: Clear off all end tables and coffee tables of any clutter. The majority of what's placed on these surfaces belongs somewhere else. Toss old newspapers and magazines and keep current ones in a basket or in a magazine holder. Sort mail, recycling what is no longer needed, and filing anything that needs to be kept into an action file or your filing cabinet.

5. Family Room: Organize your media collection into media organizers, on bookshelves or on shelves you attach to the walls. Keep all DVDs together, all CDs together, etc. for a consistent look. Organize first by genre and then by title (movie) or artist (music). If you have VHS tapes you made yourself, clearly label them. If you don't even know what's on them, take a few moments each night to watch them. If you want to keep it, then label and store it. If you don't, then put it in a basket specially designated so that each family member knows that particular tape can be taped over.

6. Dining Room: Organize your china cabinet so that it holds the dishes, glasses, serving dishes, silverware, linens and other dining accessories that you use when you eat in the dining room. If you never eat in the dining room, consider turning this area into an office, playroom or hobby room instead.

7. Home Office: Weed out your filing cabinet. Too big of a job to do at once? No problem. Just go through 10 file folders each day until you're done. Get rid of anything that is outdated or no longer necessary to keep. Keep your shredder nearby to shred any paperwork that contains personal information such as social security numbers or bank account numbers.

8. Kids Bedroom: Get rid of those deep toy boxes. The toys on the bottom are rarely ever seen. Instead, hang wall shelves--being sure some are at heights that your kids can actually reach. Line up toys and games on the shelves. Whenever possible, contain toys such as stuffed animals or Barbie doll accessories in baskets before storing them on the shelves. If you prefer not putting shelves up, consider clear, plastic storage containers for your child's closet-- avoid the ones that are too deep. Be sure they stack, so you could easily see what's inside. And institute a new rule: No more than 3 toys out at any one time.

9. Laundry Room: Catch up on your laundry pile once and for all. Do two to three loads of laundry each day until you're all caught up. Then, run at least one wash and dry cycle daily so you never fall behind again. While you're waiting for one of the cycles to run, get your detergents in order. I keep mine on shelves. My sister keeps hers in baskets on the floor right next to the machine. A friend of mine keeps hers in cabinets behind the washer and dryer. Whatever system you use, just be sure everything you need when you do the wash is within arm's reach and easy to find.

10. Tool Area: Whether your tool area is in your basement, garage or elsewhere, be sure all hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches and so on are stored in any organized, easy-to- retrieve manner. My husband has a pegboard in the basement where he stores the hand tools he uses frequently. All of his other tools are contained in two toolboxes. Larger tools, such as electric drills are stored right next to the toolboxes--in other words, all tools and fix-it equipment are in one consistent place.

by Maria Gracia - Get Organized Now!
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