Intentional Housekeeping: Part II - Organization in the Home

In Part I of Intentional Housekeeping, I discussed laying ground rules or setting up systems. One of those ground rules was to give everything a home or in other words: get organized.

Organization, while not effortless, is simple when you follow a few basic rules:

Rule #1
Look at the big picture. Know what you own and what you need to find places for. If necessary, remove everything from the area needing organization and start from scratch. I found it quite helpful to draw up "plans" when trying to figure out how to organize my stockpile in the most efficient way. I made a rough sketch of my space, made a list of item categories (oral hygiene, bathroom tissue, hair care products, skin care product, etc.) and then assigned spots for everything.

Rule #2
Store "like" items together. This is just common sense efficiency. It just doesn't make sense to store some office supplies here and some there. Keep them all together. Your home will stay neater and you'll work more efficiently.

Rule #3
Always be on the lookout for boxes and containers you can recycle for organization. This will save your budget from unnecessary expentitures to buy organizational tools. You can recycle things like shoe boxes, coffee cans, any kind of plastic or glass jars, check boxes, stationery boxes,l small tins, etc.

Rule #4
Here's where the "touch it once" rule comes into play again. Once you've organized everything...make sure you put it away!

Here's a video of my walk-in closet. It isn't always this clean, but I have to admit that it doesn't get much worse. It's easy to keep things in order when you have a plan.

As you can see from the video, my organizational methods are very simple and very cost efficient. If you are a person that must have everything matching or color coded, then consider checking out the Dollar Tree or other dollar stores in your area for cheap baskets and containers. And don't rule out yard sales or thrift stores.

Another area in my home where organization is of utmost priority is my desk. This is where I keep my Bible study supplies, office/school supplies and the hub of Simple Saving Savvy and my personal couponing. Once again, I have recycled organizational tools and tried to store like items together.


I hope this week's videos have been inspirational and given you some ideas on how to organize your own home. Next week we'll look at how I organize my stockpile...in the meantime, I'd love to hear how you're being intentional in your own home. And I LOVE photos!