7 Essential Home Organization Tips for Moms
Moms are busy. Between work, family commitments, and personal goals, it can be challenging to find time for home organization. Let’s be honest: a messy house is the last thing you need in addition to juggling everything on your plate! That’s why we’ve put together our top home organization tips for moms.
The good news is that an organized home can save you time and effort and help you stay on track with achieving your goals every day. Achieving the ‘perfectly’ organized house can be daunting, but it’s also rewarding and will allow all those other things to fall into place.
The benefits of having an organized home
- Less stress and overwhelm
- Reduces clutter
- Saves time
- Saves money
- Increases productivity
- Promotes goal-setting and achievement
There are numerous benefits of having an organized home. You’ll be amazed how much your home life will transform from complete chaos into fully functional. You may be wondering, “where do I even begin?”. We’ll cover how to get started, top home organization tips for moms, decluttering, managing priorities and your time, and the art of delegation.
How to get started
First off, a huge benefit of having an organized home is being able to find what you’re looking for, especially when you’re on a crazy hectic schedule (like a mom’s)! So how are other moms accomplishing a clean, organized, and functional home?
Deciding where to begin, setting goals, and making a plan of action.
Think about areas in your home that could use some work, set your intention to improve them, and solidify this by jotting down your goals. A good starting point is high-traffic areas because these are the most used and often the messiest.
“If you really want to get organized with your time, then you want to make sure that the things you spend your time on are actually leading you to accomplish what you most want in life. And that means you need to set some goals!”
Next, set up a base of operations. Momof6 recommends setting up a “command center” where you can leave your planner open. A command center will serve as your base of operations for executing your organizational strategy. It can be a desk, kitchen counter, top of a bookshelf, or wherever you have space to keep your lists, planners, colored pens, sticky notes, or whatever else helps you stay on track. Remember, if you have little ones, make sure this space is somewhere out of reach for them but is easily accessible to you.
Need a planner explicitly created for moms? Get Organized. Start Now. Get your kids on track, and reclaim time for yourself!
Ready to organize your home and simplify your life? Well, it’s time to start putting your plan into action, so we’ve put together a list of our top 7 home organization tips for moms to help.
7 Home Organization Tips for Moms
1. Find Inspiration and Amplify Motivation
The first step is thinking about getting organized, right? Hey, it counts! I watched a few episodes of Tidying Up With Marie Kondo on Netflix. I was immediately ready to get to work on my own space after seeing her transform each family’s disaster areas into beautifully organized and functional homes.
If I’m feeling extra lazy, my guilty pleasure is watching an episode of Hoarders. It always makes me feel grateful that although my house is a mess, it could always be worse. I still have gratitude for my ability to tidy up while simultaneously feeling compassion for those less fortunate, like the people who suffer from the severe and debilitating hoarding compulsion.
We’re all connected. Remember to be kind to yourself and others!
2. Manage Your Time Wisely
Schedule time to Organize, Declutter, and Donate or Sell Unused Items.
Keep your schedule super organized. Designate the time to organize, declutter, and get rid of stuff or it will never happen! I recommend scheduling this either monthly or quarterly (every season). Add reminders & alerts to your phone’s calendar, and the process becomes automatic. Who doesn’t prefer simplicity?
I like Google Calendar because it’s easy to integrate with my entire family’s schedules. Get everyone on board and stay on top of it all and in control!
Short on Time? Set aside 30 minutes a day or once a week to make progress towards your home organization goals. Rome wasn’t built in a day, right? Even 30 minutes here and there will add up and make a tremendous difference! Do what you can. Prioritize the most used areas first, then work on smaller projects like closets and cabinets.
Manage priorities with daily routines
If you’re looking to be on the ball with your “to-do” list, you should be aware of your daily routines. You should be planning in advance, scheduling each day, a few minutes before you go to bed or in the morning before you get dressed. Learn how to regain control over your home life by creating easy-to-use daily, weekly, and monthly family routines and schedules.
3. Declutter
If you don’t have space for your kids’ craft supplies or sports gear, it’s time to get rid of the stuff that’s cluttering up your space and not being used! Yes, you can donate, sell or give away items, but know when to let go of what you don’t need anymore, especially if it’s still in perfect condition.
“Our excess can become a blessing to other people. The items in our closets, our drawers, our basement, or even in the back of our cupboard—almost anything that is still usable—can be used by somebody else. Even if you have no need for an item anymore, almost always somebody in your immediate community can be using it.”
— Should You Donate Or Sell Your Unneeded Possessions?, BecomingMinimalist
Want to make a little extra shopping money? It’s super easy to list items for sale online in a few minutes using only your smartphone. Snap a picture, upload it to Facebook Marketplace, LetGo, or OfferUp App, write a brief description and price, and clear up some space for the things that matter!
Start with the items you don’t need because you thought you’d want to do something with them someday. For the things you do need, decluttering can get challenging, but you will be so glad you did it. Do you want to declutter? Prepare a to-do list and stick to it!
Pro Tip: Use the “Golden Rule” of organizing:
“The golden rule of organizing is that inventory must conform to storage. Your goal should be empty shelf and drawer space. Schedule a time on your calendar, go through each room in your home, and reduce. Start with the floors, then move to surfaces, then empty drawers and interiors. “
–The Ultimate Room-by-Room Organization Guide, ADDitude Magazine
Decluttering Overview:
- Decide where to start
- Get out storage bins, containers, and trash bags
- Create item categories
- Sort categorized items into piles
- Label and color code categorized storage bins and containers
- Put it all away
- Stay organized with daily maintenance cleanup- put everything back where it belongs!
Questions to help you declutter:
- What types or categories of items do I have? Create a list to help you sort things into at least 4 separate piles: Keep, trash, donate, and sell.
- When is the last time I used this? If the answer is six months to one year ago, toss, sell, or donate it! One exception to this is seasonal items of course.
- Did I forget I owned this? Do you need to keep it if you didn’t miss it?
- Is this broken and unfixable? If yes, throw it away! Stop holding on to trash.
- Can I see myself ever using this again? If the answer is no, it’s time for it to go.
- Do I LOVE this, OR can I live without it? You guessed it if you can live without it, get rid of it!
- Could I donate or sell this to someone who would use or love it more? Then do it!
- Do I Have Room for This? For example, are you holding onto bulky oversized furniture that doesn’t fit the space it occupies, is blocking or impeding passageways or prohibiting access to use; it’s time to get rid of it or downsize!
4. Every Item Has A Designated Home:
Maintaining a designated home for everything in your house saves time for clean-up and finding things. Train yourself and your family to put things back where they belong when you’re done with them and at the end of each day. No more piles of stuff on the dining room table! If it doesn’t already have an assigned spot or you can’t create one, you’ve got too much stuff.
Contain the clutter and neatly organize similar items with attractive storage solutions, like bins, bookshelves, wall shelves, and storage containers. Ensure items are easy to find and accessible by storing them in the location where they’re used.
5. Embrace Minimalism
Embracing minimalism is an essential step towards becoming more organized and clutter-free both physically and emotionally. It’s simple; less clutter enables a functional home and reduces stress.
“It’s difficult to put things away and out of sight when the drawers, closets, and storage containers are exploding with things. The fewer things you have, the easier it is to keep an organized and tidy home.”
You’ll reduce waste by only having what you need and use. Plus you’ll save time looking for things and cleaning up. That’s more quality time for you and your family, because after all, isn’t that what’s most important?
Top easy-to-do Minimalist Tips:
- Keep only one full set of dishes.
- Reduce your possessions. Get rid of old stuff every time you buy something new, like clothes and toys, for example.
- Use organization bins (that aren’t overflowing.)
- Have one or two weeks supply of clothing
- Adhere to the “Golden Rule” of organizing
6. Practice Daily Maintenance Cleaning.
Daily maintenance cleaning is doing enough every day to keep your home tidy. It prevents chores from piling up and saves me hours of cleaning time with minimal effort. I use this printable daily chores checklist. Another great tip is to incorporate the “Only Handle It Once” rule (O.H.I.O) into your daily routine.
“Instead of coming inside and putting your coat on the counter, then later hanging the coat up… just hang the coat straight up.”
Keep trash from piling up on surfaces by placing small trash cans in every room, like in bathrooms, bedrooms, and under desks.
7.Delegate, delegate, delegate.
Delegating is one of the most important aspects of home organization. Women are the busiest and most involved caregivers. Naturally, we want to be the caregiver and decision-makers for our family. Delegating responsibilities can be especially tricky for moms. With that said, it’s an essential skill to master if you’re looking for a more efficient home life and to tame the chaos of your home!
Delegate tasks to other members of your household. Family and friends will probably be more than willing to help you out, and if not, it never hurts to ask!
School-age kids can help with cleaning up and organizing too! Involving your kids is spectacular at building up their self-esteem and independence, and skills can last them a lifetime. Make it fun by offering rewards for each completed task or one big prize for larger chores, like taking them out for Fro-Yo or a $15 shopping spree to their favorite store!
Transform Your Home from Cluttered Chaos to Fully Functional
To put it plainly — an organized home is a more efficient home. You’ll live with less stress and enjoy all that your home has to offer. It’s simple to have a more organized home; you just need to have a plan of action. All the brilliant home organization tips for moms in this post will amplify your journey into becoming an organized and efficient momma! Regain control of your home life by implementing these strategies!
I promise you’ll be better off, and any step towards improvement is progress. Remember, it’s a process, and the first step is knowing where to begin. Taming the chaos will become more manageable and integrate seamlessly into your routines. You’ll take a look around at the organized, functional, and relaxing home environment you’ve created and wonder why you didn’t do this sooner. It’s going to feel great, momma. Maybe you are a superhero after all!