Last spring I was running late to a dentist appointment and I could not find my car keys anywhere. I checked my purse three times. I checked the couch cushions, the diaper bag, even the dog’s bed. After 25 minutes of tearing the house apart I gave up, called to reschedule and went to make myself a sad little sandwich.
The keys were in the fruit basket.
That was the day I realized my house wasn’t just messy, it was costing me time, money and honestly a lot of my sanity. I’d tried organizing before. I bought the cute bins, I watched the pantry videos, I even labeled things. Two weeks later it always looked worse then when I started.
If thats you too, I promise your not lazy and your not bad at this. You just never got a system that works for a real house with real kids and real Tuesday nights.
So this isn’t another list of 99 pretty pictures. These are 50 easy organization strategies, the actual steps I used, in the order I used them. Some take 10 minutes. Some take a weekend.
All of them helped me get more organized and stay that way (and my keys live on a hook now, thank you very much).
Where Should You Start?
Pick the one that sounds most like you right now.
| If this sounds like you… | Start here |
|---|---|
| “My whole house is a disaster and I’m overwhelmed” | Read the clutter section first, then where to start when your house is so cluttered |
| “I have 15 minutes, max” | Do the 10-minute version under each room, or try how to declutter any room in 15 minutes |
| “I organize, but it never stays that way” | Skip down to the daily and weekly habits |
| “I can’t let go of anything” | How to declutter when you can’t let go of anything |
| “My house is fine, my LIFE is the mess” | Jump to organizing your life, not just your home |
| “I’m running on empty right now” | How to clean when you’re depressed has gentle, low-energy steps |
[Opt-in box: Grab the free Get Organized Checklist]
Why You Can’t Stay Organized (Hint: Its Not You)
If you’ve organized the same closet five times, the problem isn’t willpower. Its almost always one of these four things.
- You have more stuff then space. No basket in the world can fix that. Stuff has to leave first.
- Things don’t have a home. If something doesn’t have a spot, it lands on the closest flat surface. Every single time.
- Putting things away is to hard. If you have to open a closet, lift a lid and move two bins just to put away the hair dryer, it’s not happening on a busy night.
- Your the only one who knows the system. If only mom knows where stuff goes, only mom puts stuff away.
Every tip below fixes at least one of these problems. Keep them in the back of your mind and you’ll start to see why some systems stick and others fall apart in a week.
Step 1: Get Rid of Clutter Before You Organize Anything
Okay this is the step everybody wants to skip. I get it, buying bins is way more fun. But organizing clutter just gives you clutter with labels on it. Declutter first, then decide if you even need bins.
1. Don’t buy one single organizer yet. Shop your house first. Once the extra stuff is gone you’ll know what size bins you actually need, and its usually less then you think.
2. Use the three bag method. Grab three bags or boxes and label them Trash, Donate and Goes Somewhere Else. Go through one space and everything you pick up goes in a bag or back where it belongs. No maybe piles allowed.
3. Start with the easy stuff. Expired food, broken toys, dried up markers, old receipts, socks with no match. You don’t have to think about any of it, and getting rid of it gets you moving fast.
4. Ask yourself “would I buy this again today?” If the answer is no, it probably doesn’t deserve the space. This one works really good for clothes, kitchen gadgets and decor.
5. Put a cap on “just in case” stuff. Keep one extra phone charger, not seven. One backup set of sheets per bed. If it costs under $20 and you can replace it in 20 minutes, you can let it go.
6. Get donations out of the house that same week. A donate bag that rides around in your trunk for two months is just clutter on wheels. Ask me how I know.
Want a step by step plan? The 40 bags in 40 days declutter challenge is a great place to start, or you can go through our room by room decluttering guide. And if things have gotten really out of hand, start with how to clean an extremely cluttered house or how to clean a trashed house. No judgement, we’ve all been there.
Step 2: How to Get Organized at Home (The Order That Actually Works)
The biggest mistake I made was starting with the garage. Three hours later I was sitting on a bin of old Halloween costumes feeling like a failure, and the rest of the house still looked exactly the same. Don’t do what I did. Go in this order instead.
7. Start with the spaces you use every day. Kitchen counters, the entryway, your bathroom. You’ll feel the difference right away and that feeling is what keeps you going.
8. Work in tiny zones, not whole rooms. One drawer. One shelf. One cabinet. A finished drawer is way better then a half done kitchen that stresses you out more then before.
9. Save the sentimental stuff for last. By the time you get to the baby clothes and the kids artwork, you’ll be alot better at making quick decisions. Start there and you will end up crying in a closet at 11pm, trust me.
10. Set a timer. Work for 15 to 30 minutes. When it goes off your allowed to stop. Most days you’ll want to keep going anyway.
Here’s the order I recommend:
- Kitchen counters and the junk drawer
- Entryway and drop zone
- Bathrooms
- Kitchen cabinets, pantry and fridge
- Bedroom closets (here’s our full guide to decluttering clothes)
- Kids rooms and toys
- Laundry room and linen closet
- Paper and the home office
- Garage, attic and storage
- Sentimental stuff
Easy Organization Strategies for the Kitchen
Every room below has a few tips plus a 10 minute version for the days you only have one nap worth of time.
11. Clear your counters down to the stuff you use every day. If you don’t use it daily (stand mixer, I’m looking at you) it goes in a cabinet. Clear counters make the whole kitchen feel organized even if the cabinets are a disaster.
12. Put turntables in corner cabinets. A lazy susan keeps things from getting lost in the back. They work great for spices, oils, sauces and vitamins. This turntable works great! But honestly, if you have a Marshalls or TJMaxx near you, they always have these on sale.
13. Store things where you use them. Mugs over the coffee maker. Pot holders by the stove. Lunch box stuff all in one bin near the fridge, which makes packing these school lunch ideas so much faster.
14. Give the junk drawer some dividers. A junk drawer isn’t the problem, a junk drawer with no sections is. Add a few small dividers and only keep the stuff you grab every week like tape, scissors, batteries and pens. Grab these drawer divider set
10 minute version: clear and wipe every counter, then toss anything expired in the fridge door.
Pantry and Fridge Organization Tips
15. Group food by type, not by box. Breakfast, snacks, baking, pasta and rice, cans. When everybody knows where the snacks live, you get less boxes opened in three different spots.
16. Make a kids snack bin down at their level. Fill it once a week with snacks your ok with. The kids can grab there own and the rest of the pantry stays neat. Pair it with these meal prep snacks for picky eaters.
17. Use clear bins in the fridge. You’ll actually see the leftovers before they turn into a science project. I got these on sale!
10 minute version: pull everything off one pantry shelf, toss whats expired and put the rest back grouped by type.
How to Organize Closets and Bedrooms
18. Switch to matching slim hangers. They save a crazy amount of space and your closet looks calmer instantly. I like these velvet slim hangers
19. Try the backwards hanger trick. Turn all your hangers the wrong way. When you wear something, hang it back the normal way. After six months you’ll know exactly what you never wear.
20. Put off season clothes away. Use under bed bins or the top shelf. Only clothes for this season should be taking up the good spots.
10 minute version: pull out 10 things you haven’t worn in a year and bag them up to donate. Our guide to decluttering clothes has alot more help.
Bathroom Organization Hacks
21. Use the back of the door. An over the door organizer holds hair tools, lotions and bath toys without using any floor space. It’s a little big but I got this over the door organizer
22. Add stacking drawers under the sink. That cabinet under the sink is a black hole. Stacking drawers turn one messy space into two you can actually use.
23. Give everybody a morning kit. One small bin per person with the stuff they use every day. Grab it, use it, put it back.
10 minute version: toss expired medicine, empty bottles and old makeup.
How to Organize Kids Rooms and Toys
24. Rotate the toys. Keep about a third of the toys out and store the rest. Swap them every few weeks. Kids actually play longer with less choices and clean up goes way faster.
25. Label bins with pictures instead of words. A picture of LEGO on the LEGO bin means even a 3 year old can help clean up. (Will they? Different story.)
26. Use one bin per type of toy. Cars in one bin, dolls in another, art supplies in a third. When a bin is full, something has to go before anything new comes in.
10 minute version: do a 10 minute family pick up with music on. Whoever fills there bin first picks dessert. For more ideas check out keeping a house tidy with toddlers.
Entryway and Drop Zone Ideas
27. Give everyone a hook and a basket. Backpack goes on the hook, shoes and hats go in the basket. Once everybody has a spot, that pile by the door just kind of disappears.
28. Keep a mail sorter by the door. Mail gets sorted the second it comes in. Junk mail goes straight into a recycling bin right next to it.
29. Pack the diaper bag or backpack the night before. Restock it at night and leave it by the door. Here’s our diaper bag essentials checklist if you need one.
Laundry Room and Linen Closet Tips
30. Store each sheet set inside one of its pillowcases. Fold the sheets, tuck them in the matching pillowcase and your done. No more digging around for the fitted sheet that goes with it.
How to Get Seriously Organized When You Have Too Much Stuff
Some of us aren’t dealing with one messy closet. We’re dealing with a whole house where every drawer, shelf and corner is full. If thats you, these are the four things that finally made a dent for me.
31. Use the container rule. The shelf, the drawer or the bin is the limit. If your kids’ stuffed animals have one basket, they get to keep what fits in the basket. You don’t have to argue about every item, the basket decides.
32. Do a one in, one out swap. New pair of shoes comes in, an old pair goes out. New toy for a birthday, one older toy gets donated. It keeps things from piling right back up.
33. Make a “maybe box” with an expiration date. Can’t decide? Put it in a box, tape it shut and write a date 3 months from now on the outside. If you didn’t open it by that date, donate the whole box without looking inside. (Seriously, don’t look.)
34. Declutter 15 minutes a day instead of one huge weekend. A whole house is to much for one Saturday. Fifteen minutes a day for a month adds up to over 7 hours and you won’t burn out. If you need a starting point, read how to simplify life and finally declutter your home.
How to Get More Organized in Your Life (Not Just Your House)
Here’s the thing nobody tells you. You can have the prettiest pantry on the block and still feel like a hot mess if your calendar, your inbox and your dinner plans are all over the place. These tips are for the stuff you can’t put in a bin.
35. Keep one family calendar. Not three. One shared calendar on your phone (Google or Apple both work) where every practice, birthday party and dentist appointment goes. If its not on the calendar, it isn’t happening.
36. Do a 10 minute Sunday check in. Look at the week ahead, figure out who needs to be where and spot the crazy days before they sneak up on you.
37. Plan dinners for the week. Deciding what’s for dinner at 5:30pm every night is exhausting. Pick 5 meals on Sunday and shop once. Freezer meals help alot here, try these crockpot freezer meals or some easy crockpot dump dinners.
38. Build a simple morning routine. Most chaotic mornings start the night before. Lay out clothes, pack bags and set the breakfast stuff out. Here’s our full morning routine with kids.
39. Give paper one home. One folder or file box for the papers you actually need (school forms, bills, warranties). Everything else gets scanned with your phone or tossed.
40. Clean up your phone. Delete apps you haven’t opened in a month and put the ones you use most on the first screen. Turn off notifications for anything that isn’t a real person. Less pinging, less stress.
41. Unsubscribe from 5 emails a day. Every time you open your inbox, hit unsubscribe on five store emails. In a couple of weeks your inbox will be way calmer.
42. Keep a running list in one place. Groceries, to do’s, gift ideas, the random thing your kid told you they need for school tomorrow. One notes app, not sticky notes all over the house.
Tips for Better Organization: Daily and Weekly Habits
Getting organized is the easy part. Staying organized is where most of us fall off. These little habits are what keep my house from sliding back into key-in-the-fridge territory.
43. Do a 10 minute reset every night. After the kids go to bed, set a timer and put things back where they go. Counters cleared, toys in bins, shoes by the door. Waking up to a clean kitchen is honestly life changing.
44. Follow the “don’t put it down, put it away” rule. It takes the same amount of time to put your keys on the hook as it does to drop them on the counter. (Or in the fridge, apparently.)
45. Get the whole family involved. Give each kid one or two daily jobs that match there age. Even toddlers can put shoes in a basket. A system works way better when your not the only one keeping it up.
46. Pick one “hot spot” to check every day. Every house has that one spot where junk piles up, usually the kitchen island or a chair in the bedroom. Clear it once a day and the rest of the house stays alot neater.
47. Do one weekly reset. Pick a day (Sunday works for me) to empty the car, sort the mail, restock the diaper bag and wipe out the fridge before grocery shopping.
48. Declutter one small thing every week. One drawer, one shelf, one bag of clothes the kids outgrew. Small and steady beats a giant purge once a year.
What to Do When It All Falls Apart Again
It will happen. Somebody gets the flu, school starts, the holidays hit and suddenly the house looks like it did before you started. That doesn’t mean you failed, it means you live there.
49. Do a 3 day reset instead of starting over. Day one, trash and dishes. Day two, laundry and floors. Day three, put everything back in its home. Since your systems are already set up, it goes way faster then the first time.
50. Ask what broke, then fix that one thing. If the entryway keeps getting buried, maybe the kids can’t reach the hooks. If the pantry is a mess again, maybe the snack bin is to small. Tweak the system, don’t blame yourself.
And if your just plain exhausted, start with the gentle steps in how to clean when you’re depressed. Some seasons are about getting through, not getting it perfect.
Frequently Asked Questions About Getting Organized
How do I get organized when I don’t know where to start? Start with one small spot you use every day, like the kitchen counter. Clear it, wipe it and only put back what you use daily. A quick win like that gives you the push to keep going.
Should I declutter or organize first? Declutter first, always. If you organize before you declutter, you just end up buying bins for stuff you didn’t even want.
How long does it take to get your whole house organized? It depends on how much stuff you have, but most families need a few weeks to a couple months working in short sessions. Fifteen to thirty minutes a day gets you there without burning out.
How do I stay organized with kids? Make the systems easy enough for the kids to use on there own. Low hooks, open bins, picture labels and a nightly 10 minute pick up do most of the work.
What are the easiest organization strategies for beginners? The three bag method, clearing your counters, a nightly reset and giving everything one home. You don’t need fancy products to do any of these.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need a Pinterest perfect house to feel organized. You need less stuff, a home for everything that’s left and a few small habits you can actually keep up on a crazy week. Pick one tip from this list today, just one, and go do it. Then come back tomorrow for the next one.
And hey, if you find your keys in the fridge, at least you know where to start.