If you’re like many Americans, you have more items in your home than you need.  Let’s get organized this year as we celebrate National Get Organized Week the first week of October.

As Americans families become more involved in various activities, they have less time to put things away where they belong.  This leads to clutter and stress as families go through piles of papers to find their child’s permission slip for the field trip.  Worse yet, they may have lost a bill that needs to be paid.

You may have heard that the best way to get organized is to start somewhere.  Find the area in your home that bothers you the most.  In 15 minute increments, begin going through one pile or drawer at a time. 

If the top of your desk is your biggest frustration, begin by taking one piece of paper off at a time and either read it, file it, or throw it away.  Keep taking one sheet of paper off at a time and before you know it your desk will be clear!  If there is an important deadline or date you need to remember, mark it down on your calendar now.

After you’ve cleared off the top of your desk, start digging in the drawers.  Go through each file folder and purge anything that is no longer needed.  Stop and take a break after you finish going through one file folder.  Don’t try to tackle the whole project at once or you may give up altogether.

Clothes closets and drawers are another problem many homes have.  Use the same process for purging.  Create piles on the floor or across your bed.  One to keep, one to give away, one to fix, and one to throw away.  Go through each piece of clothing and put the clothes in one of the four piles.  A good rule of thumb is that if you haven’t worn something in six months, you probably won’t and can get rid of it.

Children’s toys can also take over a house.  Have the children help you go through all of their toys.  The ones they never play with, those they’ve outgrown, and anything broken can be gotten rid of.  The rest that they love and they play with can be put in bins or otherwise stored in their bedroom.

Wouldn’t it be great to have your whole house organized once and for all?  You can do it with some time and a little bit of elbow grease.  Use this strategy for each area of your home that is cluttered and for each room of your house.  Take advantage of National Get Organized Week and let’s get organized this year!