As I mentioned in my Home Decorating Goals for the New Year organization is high on my list of things to do!
Organization doesn’t come naturally for me for several reasons. 1) I’m a creative- I’d rather be creating than organizing. 2) I’m thrifty- I like to hang on to things just in case (it costs less to hang on to something that you may use in the future rather than having to go out and buy it again later 3) I have four young kids (the 2 1/2 year old is the worst about dumping things and relocating items around the house) 4) Time is not on my side–it takes time to organize.
But what I do have going for me is that I love the feeling of a clean, organized space! It doesn’t matter how many things you have going against you–if you want something enough and you have the ‘know how’ to achieve it then you will make sure it happens!
I’m hoping this post will give you the”know how” and inspiration to get more organized! For this post I’ve enlisted the help of organization guru, Tori Toth!
Tori Toth is a home staging expert, author of Feel at Home: Home Staging Secrets for a Quick and Easy Sell, Founder of The Stage 2 Sell Strategy, and Owner of Stylish Stagers, Inc. a NYC based home staging company.
(Affiliate links to products included in this post for your convenience).
Provident Home Design:
What are some tips for organizing a bedroom closet?
Tori:
One of the most important ways to organize a bedroom closet is to have designated zones or sections inside the closet. For example, there is a certain area of the closet for your boots maybe on the floor, dresses on the left side of closet or hats hanging on the door. It’s important to group like items together.
You could even go one step further and color-code your clothes in each section or use height to assign where each item will go within the zone.
Provident Home Design:
How can one go about creating more space in their closet?
Tori:
In order to maximize space in your closets I recommend going through the items in the closet twice a year to determine if you actually need the item and if you don’t consider selling, donating or tossing the item to have more space.
Besides purging though, the closet should be carefully planned out so you’re using every single inch of space in the closet. Try adding a double rod in a section of the closet to hang shirts above and pants below.
(Above: My friend, Jamie, added this double rod system to her daughter’s closet to get more out of the space).
Hang items with hooks on empty wall spaces or behind the door to create more floor space. Remember to use the height of your closet and small nooks to your advantage by adding shelves, rods or hooks.
Product Suggestions for Organizing Bedroom Closets:
- Closet Doubler- This simply hooks on to an existing rod or wire shelving to create an additional rod below to hang more clothes on and maximize your closet space.
via Walmart
This Walmart version and this Amazon version are both well rated and are only $9.99!
2. Hanging Closet Organizer- Another helpful product for creating more storage in your closet is this 6 shelf organize that easily hangs from your existing rod. It is only $10.94 and can hold items such as sweaters, jeans, or shoes.
via Walmart
Provident Home Design:
How do you organize a bathroom cabinet especially if you don’t have drawers?
Tori:
Well, it so happens my bathroom cabinet lacks drawers. What I’ve done is use white mesh stacking cabinet bins from the container store to hold certain items. First off I love these particular bins because you can easily access the items and the bins stay stacked together, not creating more of a mess. Some of the items we store are hairbrushes and accessories, my husband’s trimmers and razors, make up bag, also medicine.
Another option is installing pull out drawers inside the cabinet to easily access your products (our cabinet wasn’t big enough.) We also, have a shelf under the cabinet where we added a large rectangle basket to hold the hair dryer, diffuser, curling and flat irons.
Product Suggestions for Organizing Bathroom Cabinets:
- An inexpensive utensil holder (I know even the Dollar Store carries them) can be a great way to organize small bathroom items like tweezers, nail clippers, makeup, etc.
via Real Simple
2. Mesh Under Cabinet Organizer with sliding “drawers”.
$23.87 via Amazon
Provident Home Design:
What’s the best way to organize a hall closet?
Tori:
The hall closet can easily get disorganized if it doesn’t have a purpose. So, the first thing to do is determine what this storage space will be used for based on its location in the home. Is it a coat closet? A linen closet? A supply closet?
You’ll want to go through every item in the closet. Remove each item and determine immediately if you’re going to keep, store, toss, sell, or donate each item. Have separate piles outside the closet to easily go through this process.
Organize the items going back into the closet, so the most frequently used items are most accessible. Make sure to group like items together and use creative storage solutions, like baskets or bins on top shelf, rods or hooks, try clear pocket shoe holders on the back of doors to hold stationary or toiletries.
Product Ideas for Organizing a Hall Closet:
- Foldable Cloth Storage Bins are great for organizing hall closets and more! These storage bins have a great rating and are over $10 less than buying them in stores!
6 pk. $18.99 via Amazon
2) A Door Hanging Shoe Holder is great method for storing toiletries, batteries, first aid kits, etc.
$7.97 via Amazon
Provident Home Design:
Do you have any tips for organizing the pantry?
Tori:
In the pantry it’s important to make sure you remove most items from its original container to maximize the storage space. Opt for clear containers, so your pantry is not only functional, but looks uniform.
Since pantry items are constantly being used or renewed it is important to have a simple way for family members to put the item back either by labeling or color coding the shelf and containers.
Product Ideas for Organizing a Pantry:
- Large, clear food containers. These are a great deal, 3pk for only $16.99.
via Amazon
2. A stackable can organizer can help neatly organize the inevitable barrage of cans in a pantry.
$25.87 via Amazon
Provident Home Design:
Tips for purging! How do you know when to get rid of something or hang onto it?
Tori:
It’s time to purge if:
- You haven’t used an item in over a year
- If the item is broken and not worth fixing
- You don’t plan on using the item anytime soon
- If you hate the item
- If it’s easy or inexpensive to get another one in the future.
Tip- A friend recently shared the idea to turn all your hangers backwards at the beginning of the year and then after you’ve worn something hang it up the right way. Then at the end of 6 months (or a year) you know that any piece of clothes that is on a hanger hung backwards hasn’t been worn and is a good candidate for being donated!
Provident Home Design:
Do you have ideas for what to do with all the paperwork that comes into the house?
Tori:
Paperwork clutter is a constant in most homes especially with kids. I recommend having a command center to hold schedules, important papers, timely paperwork and a place to hold lists, school paperwork and more.
At the very least, you should have a place to put incoming mail, so it doesn’t wind up on a countertop or tabletop surface. In our house, we go through the mail as soon as we bring it in, throw out junk mail, take care of anything that needs immediate attention and store bills in basket in the office until it’s time to pay them.
- A wall slot paper organizer is a fast way to keep papers sorted and off the countertops. Add labels for even better organization. The one below is sold at Amazon for $29.99.
2. If you are a receipt keeper like I am then you know how quickly they can get out of hand. I have found that this mini 5 pocket plastic folder is perfect for keeping receipts stored and organized. Even better it’s only a dollar from the Dollar Tree!
It comes with the labels and is just want I needed (no more junk drawer filled with receipts)!:-)
Provident Home Design:
Do you have any basement storage tips?
Tori:
Basements can be a tricky place to store items, especially if it’s unfinished or if you can’t control the humidity. In our area the basements tend to flood because we’re so close to the water, so I always recommend that homeowners store items up off the floor. Use deep open shelving and clear plastic watertight bins to keep items dry and contained. Also, don’t forget to label everything and have plenty of light available in those dark, dingy spaces.
Product Ideas for Basement Storage:
- Plastic Heavy Duty Shelving can be effective for storing items in Basements (and Garages). However, if you have a lot of items to store they can add up and get expensive! Here is a great tutorial on how to build your own wooden shelving unit.
I used to have one in the unfinished basement of my last home and miss it so much (I have a feeling I might be making one for this home in the future)!:-)
2. Large sturdy storage bins are a necessity for basement storage! These 70 quart clear bins come in a 4 pack for $45.86.
via Amazon
Provident Home Design:
Do you have any tips for organizing a garage?
Tori:
I recently did a video on this: https://youtu.be/8OTtdIiNzFg
In a garage or shed where space is very important you need to use your vertical space. In our shed we use a peg board to store items on the wall, we also use open shelving and again those clear plastic bins to group items together by project. We use the shelves so you can easily access the bins without constantly moving and un-stacking them.
We also have a large tool chest with lots of drawers to store items in. The more items you can get up off the floor and put away the more space you’ll have in this area.
Products that help with Garage Organization:
- Peg boards work great for Garage Organization! I really like this unique version that consists on an 8 ft. long steel strip.
$29.95 via Amazon
2) A peg board is useless if you don’t have peg board hooks to hang tools, ladders, hoses, etc on. This 51-piece, hook assortment is a steal at $6.96!
via Amazon
Provident Home Design:
What are some general tips for how these spaces should look if you are selling your home?
Tori:
If you think homebuyers won’t open up drawers, cabinets or closets, think again? Most people are looking to move because they want more storage space, so it’s important to plan ahead and get these areas organized.
- Don’t have your storage spaces jammed pack or items ready to fall out onto the buyer, try and pack away about 60-80% of your stuff.
- Basements, attics & garages can have items stored in them when selling, just make sure the boxes or bins are stacked neatly and are all together in the far back corner away from the entrance.
- Take some time to organize your kitchen and bathroom these are critical spaces in the buyer’s mind and if you show the home with lots of countertop clutter they’ll think you don’t have enough storage space in these rooms.
- Entry areas and closets must be kept up when on the market, this area is not only the first room buyers will see, but where you have to corral items that are constantly coming in and out of the home.
via Ballard Designs
(Here is my DIY Knockoff version of the above entry cabinetry).
A big thank you to Tori for sharing her wisdom today on organizing the home!! You can check out her awesome book, “Feel at Home: Home Staging Secrets for a Quick and Easy Sell”, HERE (I’ve read it and thoroughly enjoyed it)!
I find Amazon has some of the very best prices on organizational products and I love being able to read through the reviews!!
I hope you have come away from this post inspired and excited about organizing! Thanks for being here and have a great weekend!!:-)
If you liked this post feel free to pin for later and share with others!:-)
