If 2023 is the year you finally get your home and life organized, you’re in the right place. Here are twelve easy and affordable ways to tidy your home in the new year and build better habits so you can stick with your goals.
1. Get A Planner
Nothing makes our lives feel more chaotic than when we aren’t in control of our schedules. If you want to kick off the new year on the right foot, my biggest suggestion is to get a fresh new planner. Sure, digital calendars work great and they’re conveniently available on your phone. But when you physically write down appointments and to-do’s on paper, it helps your remember it better. Like back in elementary school when you had to write definitions and spelling words. And there’s nothing more satisfying than crossing off items on your list. Here’s my guide for starting a new planner if it’s been a while since you’ve had one.
2. Declutter Your Bathroom
I know you are dying to give your entire house a full organization overhaul, but trust me when I tell you that you’ll be overwhelmed, exhausted, and over it in a week’s time if you try to do it all at once. The best place to start decluttering is your bathroom because you use it to start and end your day. When you can purge all the clutter that’s taking up precious space, you’ll instantly feel more calm during your morning and evening routines. Here’s two ways to organize a bathroom vanity based on your budget.
3. Create Morning And Evening Routines
Routines are what make your life feel more organized, especially when you get the hang of them. When you start and end your day the same way at least five days a week, your mind feels at ease and you are less stressed. If you’ve been forgetting things on the way out the door in the morning or going to bed with your brain racing about all the things you need to do, that’s your sign to start daily routines. Here’s how to create a structured morning routine, and here’s what should be included in your evening shutdown.
4. Organize Your Coffee Station
If you’re a coffee or tea person, this is a great project you can kick off the new year with and get so much satisfaction. Take an afternoon to clean up, declutter, and organize all your coffee supplies, mugs, flavor add-ins, and coffee-making appliances. Your goal is to make this space feel like a mini Starbucks inside your home. You’ll be much more likely to drink your Joe at home instead of paying for it during your commute, and your mornings will be seamless. Tour all the ultra-organized cabinets in my kitchen here.
5. Downsize Your Cleaning Supplies
Are your cleaning supplies bursting at the seams of every cabinet they’re stored in? I bet you aren’t even using half of them, and a lot can be replaced with more versatile options. Gain back some storage space in your home by downsizing your cleaning supplies and switching to more all-purpose solutions. This is a quick and easy project but the payoff is visible every time you open your cleaning cabinet and a spray bottle doesn’t come crashing down. Here’s how to stock a well-rounded cleaning caddy.
6. Tidy Your Nightstand
You can’t expect yourself to get a restful night of sleep if you’re trying to doze off next to a big pile of clutter right beside your face. The nightstand is a great place to start your organizing journey because it’s small enough to be a quick-ish job, but the payoff is big enough to motivate you to organize more areas of your home. That’s the reason why the nightstand is up first in my 28 Day Declutter Challenge.
7. Rearrange Your Closet
If you’re looking to start the new year with a bigger project, a good old-fashioned closet cleanup is what I’d recommend. You’re fresh off the holiday high and being your best version of You is what’s on your mind right now. This is the best time to purge clothing you don’t want or need anymore because you feel less emotionally attached during the month of January. Once you’ve purged, rearrange your keepers so your closet feels clean and new. Here’s a guide for how to purge your wardrobe and what to look out for.
8. Purge Old Craft or Hobby Supplies
If you’re a crafter or have hobbies that include lots of supplies, now is the time to go through your stash and get rid of the things you haven’t used in the last year. You know the old paper that’s smushed in the back of the shelf or the rotary tool that stopped working last January and you never got around to fixing it? Yep, those can hit the road and free up space in your work zone for things you actually use. Need an all-in-one craft room setup and organizaiton guide? Check out The Organized-ish Craft Room.
9. Buy A Label Maker
Organizing your home is only half of the process. The other half is keeping it organized. The key to maintenance is knowing where everything goes and training yourself to put it all away. This is especially important if you share your home with other people. You may know which container the backstock toiletries are in, but your partner or kids might not remember. There are a bunch of different label makers on the market, but this is the best beginner and budget-friendly option.
10. Organize One Messy Drawer
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve heard me say this a thousand times. One little baby step towards a more organized home causes a ripple effect. If you try to jump in on the first week of January with a full kitchen organizing project, you’re going to be defeated before you even finish. You’ve got to walk before you can run, so decide on just one drawer and organize the heck out of it. Make it the best drawer you’ve ever seen. You’ll be dying to do it again and again but you won’t get overwhelmed. Here’s how to measure drawers for organizers like a pro.
11. Start A Running Donation Box
If time isn’t on your side right now and there’s no room in your schedule to organize a small space or experiment with new schedules and routines, this tip is for you. Grab a large box (a recycled shipping box is fine), fold the flaps inward, and write Donate on all four sides. Then put the box in a central location of your house that’s easy to get to (not hidden in a closet or on the far side of the garage). Anytime you come across something in your home that needs to be donated, just carry it over and drop it in the box, then go back to your day. You’re gradually purging and you don’t even realize it. Here’s the full donation box guide.
12. Set Up A Mail Station
One of the biggest clutter problems we all seem to have is paper. The school handouts, the mail and bills, the neighborhood flyers, the open enrollment insurance documents…the paper pile never ends. The earlier in the year you can set up a mail sorting station the better. Opt for some kind of organization system that allows for separation of bills to pay, things that require another form of action, papers to file, documents to shred, and dates to add to your calendar. Not sure what to keep and what to trash? Here’s the list.
Need More Organizing Motivation?
Between my blog, Instagram page, YouTube channel, TikTok page, and Pinterest profile, I’m sharing organizing and decluttering tips every single day of the year. Want to keep up with it all? Get on my email list. You’ll get a recap every Saturday with all the new content so you can choose what you need most, and you also get a top secret newsletter on Thursday nights with my very best pro organizer advice that I don’t share anywhere else. Just drop your email address here and you’ll get my VIP emails immediately.
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