Let’s Get Organized

As much as we’d all love to boast a spotless home, let’s face it, sometimes life gets in the way. Soccer games, office meetings and impromptu dinner parties do not a clean house make. Fortunately, when you assign each object a place and get uber organized, you can cut that cleanup time in half. Here, we’ve pulled together 10 easy tricks for trimming down the clutter, and scoring an impeccable home. Happy organizing!

1. Visit your favorite home store and stock up on baskets and drawer organizers. Sorting everything from magazines and kitchen utensils is a cinch when you’ve got a convenient place to slip them away. Home organizing solutions — done!

2. Invest in clear, stackable boxes or a behind-the-door shoe organizer for sorting hoards of footwear. Bet you find a few pairs you can give away in the process.

3. Take a cue from Real Simple and shrink-wrap your seasonal wear (think chunky sweaters and puffy parkas) in Ziploc Space Bags. Who needs a bulky trunk when you’ve got these clever compressibles?

4. Pick up a label maker — and use it! Snag a handful of containers and clearly mark what’s inside — whether it be scrapbooking supplies or garden gear. You’ll be insta-organized in a snap.

5. Go ahead and transfer your CD collection onto your laptop already. Don’t have time? Use Real Simple’s suggestion and send albums to Riptopia — they’ll do all the heavy lifting for you.

6. Give your knick-knacks a spot on the wall. Whether you have a vintage record collection or a set of plates you can’t bear to put in the attic, purchase a floating shelf (like this Stainless Steel Shelf from West Elm) for displaying your goodies sans the clutter.

7. Make a recipe binder. Instead of stockpiling all of those recipe printouts in a drawer, purchase a three-ring binder and slip your hodgepodge of recipes into clear album sheets. Now you can flip to that beloved cookie recipe in a flash!

8. Heed HGTV’s advice and keep your beauty products in a flower-box planter. Finding your grooming go-tos will be easy peasy — plus, it makes for a charming accent piece!

9. Find family solutions. Better Homes and Gardens suggests personalizing your mudroom — and keeping those various shoes, books and umbrellas off the floor — by giving each member of your family a monogrammed hanging basket.

10. Give all of those ugly chargers, cords and cables a place of their own in a compartmentalized media box. Make like Jen, the blogger behind IHeart Organizing and organize your home by labeling each compartment.

If you busy schedule is getting in the way of doing everything at once, make a goal of checking one or two things off of this home organizing checklist each week. It feels pretty good, doesn’t it?

How do you stay organized? Leave us a comment on our 123Print Facebook page, tweet us @123Print or write a note below.