The moment you walk in the door of your home, the shoes come off, the car keys are thrown on the shelf and you are ready to move through the rest of your day. Our home is the one place that we can be ourselves and let our personality shine. But if you have to sort through stacks of paper to find a bill or about kill yourself tripping over toys and books, then your house is saying “Organize Me!”

A well-organized home saves you time, money and frustration. Yes, it takes a bit of work to get it there – especially for those pack rats and procrastinators - but it certainly pays off in the end.

Whether your house is clutter-free (minus a few closets and other unmentionable hiding places around the house) or a disaster, bringing an organization system into your life is rather painless. It will take some time – days, weeks, maybe even months – and some behavior changes.

Start at the Beginning

Right now you have decided to commit yourself to a better way of living, so kudos to you! But where do you start?

First things first. Take a notepad and pen and begin a survey of your home. Begin at the first room and finish with the last. Don’t forget closets, bathrooms, garages and attics. When surveying each room, look at how it is organized now, and how much clutter you see. Note what needs to be done – closets gone through and items you no longer use need to be thrown out, toys and personal items strewn throughout the home, bathroom closets stuffed with millions of towels and other effects, offices that look like a paper chase rather than a working space and so on.

After you are finished with the survey, rate each room based on the severity of the disorganization – 1 for the least disorganized and 10 as the worst mess. This system will help you figure out where you need to start your organization mission. The most commonly disorganized rooms tend to be the laundry room, garage and office.

Before you begin plundering through the worst rooms, design a systematic approach. Look at a calendar, and realistically schedule time for each room. You can do this on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Try to avoid spreading the organization process too far out into the year, for your chances of successfully completing the mission grow smaller the farther out you schedule.

For example, let’s say you desperately need to organize four rooms – the office, your child’s bedroom, the living room and the bathroom. Review your free-time over the next two months and decide on times to organize. The office is the worst, so schedule that first. Give yourself the appropriate time to organize the room – let’s say about two days. This gives you one day for sorting through everything in the office – throwing away old papers, categorizing items into keep, garage sale and give away piles – and the second day can be used for arranging furniture, placing keep items in an organized manner and finding a place for everything. You then do the same for each room. Just keep in mind, the sooner you get the process done, the more time you will have to enjoy your life, so don’t procrastinate!

The How To’s of Room Organization

You have your rooms selected and scheduled your time for each one, so what are you supposed to do when it’s time to organize?

Remember, you are taking steps to live a stream-lined, clutter-free life to be a happier person and family. Keep that thought in your head while you begin to feel overwhelmed by the junk that grew overnight. Take your positive attitude and a few other things into the room with you:

Several Boxes.You will more than likely need several boxes. Of these boxes, Label three – Keep, Giveaway, Garage Sale. Depending on your items, you may need more once these three are filled up. You will place things you wish to keep, but belong in another room in the Keep box, things you no longer need and don’t think you can sell in the giveaway box and things you no longer need, but think you can sell in the Garage Sale box. You will also need a few boxes to categorize items – documents, art supplies, CDs, DVDs, etc. Be sure to place each like thing together, even if you have to generalize – office supplies (stapler, scissors, pens, markers, etc), computer stuff (cables, software, printer paper, etc.), and so on.

Garbage Bags. Be sure to take a box of garbage bags in the room with you, because you are sure to throw things away. Every time you fill one up, take it outside to keep it from cluttering the room.

Cleaning Supplies. When you are cleaning out your space, you might as well clean off the surfaces that hold the items. This will save you time and give your room that fresh feeling – keeping you motivated to continue the task.

Music. Most of us work better when we are having fun. Take your boom box and favorite CDs to jam to as you are cleaning up. You will keep your spirits up and work faster.

Notepad and Pen. Don’t forget your notepad and pen – they will be used after you see what you have left to organize in the room. Write down things you may need to make the organization process easier – boxes for CDs, containers for art supplies and paper, shelving for books, etc. Due to budget constraints, you may not be able to purchase all the organization tools you want, but you can buy what you can and keep a running wish list for each room.

Now that you have your tools in hand to make the process as easy as pie, you have to actually go through things and even part with items. This is the hardest part for just about everyone. We acquire so much over our lifetime, but the stuff we have is useless if we don’t use it. Here are a few tips to make parting with things easier:

Picture an Organized Home. While sorting through a room, mentally picture it as a well-organized, well utilized space. Don’t stop there – think about how you will feel walking into a clutter-free zone where you could instantly find what you were looking for. That’s a nice thought, right? You can even go a step further. Take a before and after picture. Place the pictures somewhere personal – in your day planner, in a photo album, etc – and look at them from time to time. The sight of the before picture will put a smile on your face, as well as keep you motivated to keep the space organized.

Memories Have Their Place. The number one reason why people keep things they no longer need is because it is tied to a memory. That hutch that is falling apart and can no longer hold dishes belonged to Grandma, and Grandma used to put her pies there, or that ticket stub is from the first date you and your husband or wife had. While that is a touching reason to keep something around, why haven’t you done anything with it if it means so much to you? That doesn’t mean you should throw out everything that means something to you; rather, organize it if you can, or repair what is broken to make it usable again. Place memorabilia in photo albums or scrap books. Repair old furniture to new and use it. Buy small boxes or file folders for children’s artwork and store it – or better yet, frame your favorites and get rid of the others. And those other things that you feel like you can’t part with but aren’t offering any purpose – take a picture and get rid of it. If it is just cluttering up your room, then it is cluttering up your life.

Now that you’ve gone through your things and have large piles to throw away, give away or sell, you are through with the hard part. The next thing to do is organize your space.

When looking at your space, decide on how to arrange the furniture and any new shelving or organization tools to make the best use out of the room you have. Have fun with it – use a few colorful leather boxes/seats for board games or pictures, get some fun boxes and containers for supplies, fit in some neat pieces you have collected between books on the book shelf. Frame and throw some of those old posters on the wall to bring life to the room. You want the room to be fun, livable and organized – not boring and cold.

To make things easier to find, label all boxes, containers and photo albums. Find a place that makes sense for everything – computer paper shouldn’t be on the other side of the room than the printer and CDs should be close to the sound system, and so on. Strategically place things to make your life easier, not harder.

Pavlov’s Theory of Behaviorism

Now that you are finished organizing a room, you have to keep it that way. Remember Pavlov and the dog experiment? Pavlov conditioned the dog to do various tasks by ringing a bell. While that sounds simple and great, we are humans, right? Yes we are, but it takes a lot of behavioral changes to keep a house organized. You have to be Pavlov for your family, and sometimes you have to be the dog. Once the room or the house is organized, you must keep it that way or your work was in vain. Buy a basket or decorative box for each person in your home and place it somewhere central in the house – the living room, den or stairwell works great. Through the course of the day, place any objects that belong to others in these boxes and have them clean out their box weekly if not daily. Let them know where things go, and that you expect to see them follow the organization rules. Feel like a commanding officer? Well, would you rather have your family help you stay organized, or go back to the way things were (remember, life was overwhelming, confusing and frustrating when you couldn’t even find the chair to sit on)? Stay on top of them, and stay on top of yourself. After a month or two, everyone will be used to the new way of living, and like it a lot better than before.

Every week or month, set aside a half hour for each room. This will allow you to go through any new items or documents that have entered the room, and allow you to put things that may have gotten out of order back to their place. The easiest time to do this is when you or a family member is cleaning up. The room remains fresh and organized by just donating thirty minutes each month. Not a bad trade off at all.

Also keep in mind that you may need to check and adjust the way each room is organized. Ask you family what is working and what isn’t. Pat yourself on the back for those ingenious organizing ideas that makes life easier, and change the ones that aren’t so hot. Better yet, ask your family how they would change it and let them! Delegation is another great organization tip.

After a few months of a strange new home, you will begin to notice a few things. You won’t be spending more time looking for things as before, you won’t be rushing around stuffing items into secret, unseen spaces when guests are coming and your rooms will be so much more aesthetically appealing. You have more free time on your hands; free time for picnics in the park, bike riding, movie watching – you name it, and you and your family can do it.

So, if you haven’t already, begin organizing your home. While it may seem like an unthinkable task, it isn’t at all hard. Taking time now to get your household on the right track can save you years of the trickle down effect disorganization has on your life. Instead of taking time to find things, do what is most important – living your life to its fullest with those you love the most.