8 Quick and Easy Ways to Get Organized

Are you tired of living in clutter? Do you want to become more organized but feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin? Don’t worry; you’re not alone. Many people struggle with keeping their homes and workspaces organized.

In this article, we will discuss eight quick and easy ways to get organized. These methods will help you get started on your organizational journey and make the task of organization seem a little less daunting.

One Box To Rule Them All
The first step in getting organized is to declutter. Take out a large box and put everything you need to deal with into it. Clear the junk off of every surface, and if you need to do something with it, don’t- just put it in the box. It’s much easier to sit down later with a box and delve into processing it than it is to try to clean and organize all at once.

The Space-Killer
Pick a single space in your room or office- a desk, a bookshelf, a chair piled with laundry- and clean it until it’s spic-and-span. Make sure it’s a small space, as you’re trying to get this done in five minutes, but pick a spot and have a mini-cleaning bonanza.

Trashing Sprees
Do a sweep of your whole space- office, bedroom, wherever you’re looking to get organized. Anything that needs to be processed or dealt with separately, leave where it is. For these five minutes, all you’re dealing with is trash-able items. Walk around with a big trash bag, and liberally dump stuff into it.

Clean from the Ground Up
In most rooms, a dirty or cluttered floor is the most obvious sign of disorganization. Try cleaning just the floor- if something’s not touching the floor, leave it alone. With a clean floor, your space will look better and feel better to you, and likely make the task of organizing much less daunting.

Pick It and Fill It
Another thing prone to messing up your space is things without a home. Give them a home. Start by picking a place for all of a certain thing to go- let’s say DVDs. Once you’ve created a home for your DVDs, go around collecting them and putting them in their rightful place.

Piles, Piles, Piles
Sometimes, all you want to do is make a mess so large you don’t have a choice but to clean it up. When you’re feeling this way, dig everything out of the clever places you tend to hide things – drawers, behind and on top of other things, under your bed, and what have you. Once everything’s out, on the floor, and in front of you, you’re able to gauge what it is that you’re dealing with, and get to work.

Pretty Systems
Organizing is simply more fun when there’s a flashy, cool system to it. That’s why David Allen always suggested the use of a labeler for your filing system – it’s no more useful than a pen, and probably takes longer, but it’s prettier and more serious-looking. This is a great tip for when you don’t want to clean up at all: make some files. Figure out what you’ve got a lot of, and create a file for it.

Minimizing Space
This is a new habit that has worked wonders for many people: When you’re organizing, put duct tape over certain places: your bookshelf and your cupboard, for instance. They are off-limits, and you’re not allowed to put things in them. Now, instead of being able to just shove things in drawers and hope for an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality, you have to find a useful place for them- or just get rid of them.

In conclusion, organizing works best in baby steps. Rather than trying to do it all at once, take five minutes, and tackle one of these eight tasks. You’ll feel better, your space will look better, and organization will somehow begin to look a little bit easier. Start with one method and move on to the others once you get the hang of it. With a little effort, you can achieve the organized life you’ve always wanted.