Six Simple Steps to Get Organized Today

Last week I talked about the pre-step you should take before you start organizing. (If you missed it, click here to jump to learn the one thing you need to do before you start organizing.) 

Once you’ve completed the pre-step, you’re ready to start organizing! No matter what space you’re organizing, there are just six simple steps you need to follow. 

You can click below to watch my video covering the six steps, or keep reading! 

Step 1: Pick the Space 

Pick a space to organize that you can tackle in the amount of time that you have. You don’t want to start a massive organizing project, create a huge mess, and then have to stop partway through. No space is too small. Just be sure that whatever space you pick you’ll be able to finish in the amount of time you’ve set aside. 

Step 2: Declutter

Anything that you don’t want to keep in the space needs to leave the space. That means that trash goes in the bin, donations go in the Goodwill box, and items that belong in another part of the home get moved out. If you click at the bottom of this post and download my free guide on these six steps, you’ll also get my handy decluttering checklist for free! It will walk you through some questions you can ask yourself as you’re decluttering. 

Step 3: Sort 

Now that you’re left with only the items you want to keep, it’s time to sort. Put like items together in categories that make sense to you. These can be broad categories like “books” or much narrower categories like “lift the flap books for grandkids.” 

Step 4: Contain

You know what you have, and you know how much of each item you have. Now it’s time to contain it! You don’t necessarily have to buy new containers. I’m a big fan of shopping your house, which simply means using what you already have and seeing how you can make it work. In fact, you don’t actually have to use containers at all. You can simply say, “This half of the drawer is for pants, and this half is for shirts.” Just so long as you know where every type of item belongs. 

Step 5: Label 

Here’s the secret about labeling…when I label something, I’m eight times more likely to put that item away after I use it! It’s like the label is serving as a subtle reminder to myself to clean up and put things back where they belong. Your labels don’t have to be anything fancy. Even freezer tape and a sharpie can make a handy set of labels. 

Step 6: Maintain

This last step is easily overlooked. It’s one thing to get your space organized, but the key is keeping up with it. Make sure that your organizational systems aren’t confusing so that it’s not difficult to keep your space in order. Also, be sure the space makes you happy. If it makes you happy, you’re definitely more likely to keep it organized!

Tasha sitting on organized shelves

If you’re not sure where to start with getting organized, I recommend starting with just one shelf. I give you step by step instructions and tons of inspiration inside The #Shelfie Handbook that you can check out here. 

I have an entire free guide covering the six steps you need to take to get organized today, and you can click below to download it now. The guide will cover everything in this post, plus give a little more information and a helpful decluttering checklist. 

Happy organizing!

Organization that actually sticks for busy, happy lives.