home organisation tips

Streamline Ideas

Organizing your entire home can seem overwhelming. Focus on one room at a time, and work only in short intervals. Decide on a time limit (15 to 30 minutes a day is manageable) and set a kitchen timer. When the bell rings, stop working, and be proud of what you've accomplished.


Every organization project starts with three basic steps: purge the items you no longer want or need, analyze what's left to determine how you use it and measure the space you have to figure out what will fit where.


When you're organizing, use a three-box system: keep, discard, and don't know. When you're finished, seal the don't know box and put it away. If you haven't opened it in a year, you don't really need whatever is in there. Throw it away without looking inside.


Create an inventory of the items in your home. Go room by room and write down each item in that room. For example: living room end table, price paid $400, replacement price $600. Keep the list in a fireproof safe or at your office.
Children’s Stuff

Use a double-rod system (top and bottom) in the closet. With the space you save, you'll have room to move a chest of drawers in there too. You've just freed up floor space in the bedroom!


One way to organize your baby's clothes for at least a week is to use an over-the-door shoe holder. It goes over the door and hangs on the back. You can put an entire outfit in each one of the slots, including the socks and any other accessories.


Give each child a labeled hook, shelf and plastic bin in the mudroom. Boots, coats, bookbags and everything else will be easy to find if they have a regular home.
Go with Canvas

Use a canvas hanging shoe bag with pockets as a home for children's stuffed animals. To get creative, let your child label and decorate each animal's home pocket with markers.

Closets

When organizing a closet, frequency of use is an important consideration. Things you reach for at least once a week should be stored at a height between your shoulders and your knees.

Laundry

Keep a plastic shoe box in the laundry room to store items you find such as lipstick, buttons and money.


Set up a three-basket hamper system in your closet or bathroom. You can sort your clothes the moment you take them off, making laundry day that much easier.
Home Office

Keep your checkbook, stamps, envelopes and other bill-paying items in one place (the same place you stack bills as they come in). Choose two days a month to take care of household finances and everything you use will be in one place.


Customizable closet systems aren't just for bedroom closets. Use a combination of shelves, drawers and hanging storage in a spare bedroom closet, and it can double as a home office space.


Use rubbery shelf-liner to cover wire shelving in the pantry. Small items won't tip over or slip between the cracks.


Don't settle for a plain ottoman for foot-propping in front of the TV. Choose an ottoman with a removable top that opens to reveal hidden storage space.
Garage or Basement

If your recycling bins are light, keep them on a shelf on top of your garbage can so they don't take up valuable floor space. Heavy bins, like the one that holds newspapers, should stay down low.


source: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg&p=Organize/homeorg_tips.html&rn=none&ln=ho