Do you have a junk room in your house - a room that is packed with stuff you will never use? Do you have a room that may have started out as an office or a craft room but has ended up full of things you really should throw away? Does your bed room or your office feel crowded with stuff? If so, get on the de-clutter bandwagon! Organizing your cluttered room will do wonders for you and make it possible to truly enjoy that room once again.
De-cluttering a room is not just a matter of putting things where they belong, but beyond that it is creating an atmosphere of cleanliness and calm.
Too much stuff in our lives and homes adds stress and makes it hard to relax and to be productive.
Clutter causes stress whether you know it or not.
Let's start at the very beginning - a very good place to start.
As with any process, start by identifying what the purpose of the target room is.
Then decide what needs to go there and what does not.
Identify the major items that you want to keep and those you want to either move out or throw away.
Sometimes you have to make a bigger mess to get something the way you want it.
The best thing to do is to take everything out of the room, sort and then put everything back together.
It is a big project so be sure you allot enough time to complete it in one sitting.
With enough determination, the project can be done effectively and with positive, lasting results.
Keeping that in mind, the following are a few helpful tips on how to set out to organize your junk room, office or living area to best achieve a place of comfort, delight, and productivity.
Every project requires a plan.
What is the purpose of your target room...
ideally? What activities will be performed in that room? Is the room a room for sleeping primarily or for watching TV and relaxing? Is it a craft room or an exercise room? Is it a home office? Once you have determined the purpose and function of the room, make a list of the things you will need to perform the activities you have destined for that room.
How much space will you need for each activity? Will you need relevant storage - i.
e.
storage for items related to the function of the room that you may not need every day? Is there a place for storage - a closet, a trunk, drawers, etc? You may want to sketch out a floor plan to get a better idea of what you want to accomplish.
That way you can try different layouts before you start moving furniture.
Now, comes the fun part: purge, sort, replace what you need and then maintain it.
Go ahead and make your giveaway pile.
A lot of organizations pick up donations at your door, so do a little looking around and then do not be bashful, purge! You may want to consider a yard sale.
Just get started by selling, donating or throwing away any thing you think you will not need.
Go through your closets, drawers and any storage areas in the room and discard trash.
Identify items you want to stay in the room and set them aside for later.
You will want to position them inside conveniently once you start moving back in.
This is where the plan comes in.
Make decisions and stick to them.
Be careful not to re-clutter.
If you have storage space in cabinets, closets and drawers left over in the room, it is totally fine to store other things there, just be sure to label and to plan for those other things.
Avoid the temptation to re-clutter.
You may decide to replace appliances furniture or office equipment with newer more space efficient ones, add shelving, mount things to the walls, etc.
You decide.
There are a lot of space-saving tools available in your local home improvement store.
Last but not least, surely, you keep your organized room tidy.
Maintenance will be half the battle, but the reward of a tidy, comfortable and usable space will be totally worth it.
There is nothing like a tidy house.
Put your mind to it, plan for it, do not be afraid to pitch what you do not need, take the time to sort the essentials, label things in storage, and then do everything you can to keep it up.
It all comes down to your commitment to the project.
If you want it, you can do it! You certainly deserve it!