Our homes are our havens, the one place where we can feel safe and comfortable. It’s also the one place we have control over things. Do you feel relaxed and comfortable in your home? If not, then perhaps you need to look at how you manage your home. You get to decide how messy or organized it is, how clean or dirty it is, and how cluttered or spacious it is. You do have a choice.

That being said, your choice needs to be backed up with action. I hope that for those who choose to be on the slightly more organized end of things, we’re able to help support you with your choice.

Let’s be grateful that we have homes to make as relaxing and comfortable as we choose. And remember, “there’s no place like home!”

“65 percent of people describe themselves as “very” or “insanely” busy according to a Day Runner Survey.”

This is really no surprise considering the way we live today. Jobs with long hours and long commutes, kids with multiple activities outside of school, chores, and leisure activities. Sometimes it’s a lot to squeeze into a day!

With a little bit of planning though, you can make things run a bit more smooth and save some time in the process. Check out the Monthly Mission below for some planning tips.

This month’s mission talks about having a good calendar to schedule and keep appointments for you and your family, meal planning, weekly grocery shopping and keeping a daily routine. These four things keep the wheels of the household running smoothly (most of the time).

To read about the monthly mission for June, click here.

Here are some of the more recently added pages to the website you may have missed.

Storage Shed Organization - Before and after photos of my storage shed reorganization project.

Toy Organizing Project - After Christmas I had to do some toy re-organizing. Here is a before and after of my little toy organizing project.

Bathroom Drawer Make Over - How to organize a bathroom drawer, an example with before and after photos.

Declutter Your Home and Life - Lots of information on how to declutter, what the benefits are, and how to keep the clutter away, in your home and in your life in general.

Stop Clutter - Quick simple tips on how to stop the clutter from coming into your home in the first place.

Organizing Your Magazines - Suggestions to help you downsize your piles of magazines and how to store them neatly.

Organize Your Junk Drawer - take control of that drawer you toss stray items into. Give it purpose with a few minutes and a little organization.

Organize Your Refrigerator - some simple guidelines to help you use your refrigerator more efficiently and waste less food.

I recently bumped into something called the toothbrush principal and it made complete simple sense.

The idea is that everyone knows where their toothbrush belongs. When you go to brush your teeth, you know exactly where to find it, you take it out, you use it, and you put it away when you’re done. The toothbrush, toothpaste and cup are always in the same area near the sink. And if you were to go on a vacation, you would get into your hotel room and put your toothbrush, toothpaste and a cup right next to the sink so you could brush your teeth. It’s a very simple and organized system, and something you’ve been doing your whole life.

Now, think how simple and organized your whole home could be if you would apply the same principle to the rest of your belongings.

You need to give everything a home. We already discussed that last month. But more specifically, items should get homes near other like items and near where you plan to use them, to the best of your ability.

Think about making up zones in your rooms of like items. In the kitchen, put the cutting boards and knives in an area together. Put your coffee pot and all the coffee supplies in a drawer or cabinet directly above/below the coffee pot. Store all your lawn and garden supplies together in one section of your garage or shed, and put together a handy tote to carry your gardening tools out to the yard. Make an entry zone in your home where you come and go to keep your keys, purse/wallet, cell phone, etc.

These are just a few examples of how giving items homes in particular zones is meant to work. You will never need to search for your car keys again if you always put them in the same place when you come home. Nice, huh?!

Take a little time to think about the items you use on a daily basis. Are they spread out around the house or room? How could you store them more closely to where you intend to use them? It’s ok to shift things around your home and store them where you use them, even if it’s not considered a traditional storage space.

Until next time, happy organizing!

Sincerely,

Tracy Greene
Plan-and-Organize-Life.com

P.S. Sometimes links to website pages get broken. If a link doesn't work, you may need to copy and paste the entire link into your browser.