The Organised Housewife » Tips, ideas, inspiration and motivation to help keep you and your household clean and organised

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Apr 04 2011

How and where do I start to organise and clean the home.

Category: Cleaning • Organising

Dishes in the sink, dirty clothes in the laundry, toys on the living room floor or shoes scattered all through the garage…does this sound familiar.  We all take pride in our home, but at times it can all get too much.  You have a baby and routines go out the window, maybe your working full time, you want to spend time with the family not cleaning, feeling depressed, your a hoarder…perhaps you are just OVERWHELMED.

How to start?

  1. Access each room of your house and add all the things you want to clean and organise to the to-do list (available for free via link below). Write down everything from dresser drawer, bathroom cupboard, sons toy chest, be specific.
  2. Understand why you need to clean/organised each of these areas
  3. Determine what storage solutions or products you may need to help you to complete each task.  Use shopping list in download link below.
  4. Evaluate your list and set a realistic date for when you would like each task completed by.
  5. Establish a new routine which will help you keep it under control.  Use chart in download link below.

example:

Access - the kitchen bench always has dirty dishes

Understand - can’t find the time to clean them

Determine - too tired

Evaluation - tomorrow I will spend 30 min cleaning all the dishes

Establish - routine to start cooking dinner a little earlier so not so tired after dinner to clean dishes each evening and put them away the following morning after they have air dried.

Where to start organising and cleaning?

Consider:

  • A high traffic area ie, kitchen, laundry or living room
  • If you are having trouble sleeping start with the bedroom
  • The first task on the list
  • There really isn’t a right or wrong place to start, making an effort is the step in the right direction.

Remember when you do start try and complete that room first before moving onto another.

Follow these steps here to Declutter:

The Steps of Declutter 52 Things in 52 weeks

Step 1: Determine what are your organising goals
Step 2: What is clutter
Step 3: 5 steps to clear your clutter
Step 4: Start the 52 things in 52 weeks Challenge – it’s not too late to start now
Step 5: How to part with sentimental items
Step 6: Create a to-do list

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  • Leisha

    Wow Katrina you have been so busy! You are like the Nana/Mother some of us never had!

    You’ve raised a lot of important things to consider today regarding decluttering and hoarding. I think that sometimes our perceptions of what we actually NEED to keep is distorted.

    Your ideas are unique in that you actually provide detailed pictures and checklists of items you have, so we can use it to see whether we could really get by with less or whether there is a more suitable storage system available to use (like your washing sorting system). Thanks for helping this family!!

  • Renee

    WOW!! Thank you so much for all the fabulous ideas that you have. I was wanting to do the above and just couldn’t get motivated to do so. Thanks to you, I am mapping out my days and planning ways to get the house up to scratch!

  • Aliesha

    ahh’ thankyou so much for this, great help.
    i never know where to start or how to start, i get half way through something and because i sidetrack my house looks even messier than where i started
    i have decided to tackle 1 room at a time, and if something fromt hat room belongs in another room ill put it in that room and leave, otherwise i start on that room! yes very confusing!

  • karina

    I can not tell you how perfect this information is. I was thinking I should email you to ask how I should ‘start’ becomming organised!!!
    I found your website a few weeks ago and have picked up so many hints/tips – but have been a bit lost as to wear to start (currently the laundry, bathroom and kitchen are half organised)

  • Jade

    I think this is wonderful. Working out WHY the area is messy is such a great thing. I find in my house – a lot of places are messy because I don’t have room to put things anywhere else – so if I can get more storage or reduce the amount of stuff… well that should fix the problem.

  • Julie

    Thankyou so much for the “where do I start” blog, I originally found this website thru a search because i was trying to re-find an article i read on Oprah’s website -

    http://www.oprah.com/home/What-To-Keep-And-What-To-Toss

    this was the link i thought was helpful – I will be using this in my decluttering process too!!
    2 down 50 to go :-)

    I have only been reading this blog a few days and i already feel so much less overwhelmed!! I feel like what i do each day is more of an achievement and less of a drudge because “it never ends, no-one seems to notice” i have an achievable daily workload (mostly!!)(well sometimes!!)and i somehow have begun to define my “job” as a SAHM instead of my lack of paid employment..
    I mean I’ve always tried to live the mantra mothering/parenting being the most important job in the world but was never really sure if I was coping?? I just scheduled in “good” stuff for the kids and hoped the rest would work out!
    …if therapy is a journey I think I took the scenic route…
    (sad, I know but think of all the unemployed therapists!!)

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  • wishful housecleaner

    Im in desperate need to clean/tidy and declutter my house. With 3 kids aged 5 and under my energy levels are low and it makes me feel so down looking around my house not knowing how tackle it. I feel like I have started so many times but I have one little boy that is like a tornado. I go to sleep at night dreaming I have a clean tidy house! oh how times change I used to dream about winning the lotto!

    • http://www.theorganisedhousewife.com.au Katrina

      Lotto, wouldn’t it be nice!! it’s hard with little kids, however I taught mine from early on that their toys belonged in their bedrooms or the toy room, not the living ares and if I saw them their they would be mine for a day. Also get the kids to help you pack them away, or do it themselves, getting them to help is a great responsibility for them.

      • Jessicagurney

        thankyou katrina, that sounds like a great plan! I have started making them keep the lego in their rooms but it was more so my 8month old wouldn’t put it in his mouth. Thankyou so much for all your advice and help you give on here, I am still at the where do I start stage, as it is quite overwhelming when every room is messy, except my kitchen. But I have printed off the daily planner and it is my new years resoultion to try and accomplish all on my planner each day. thankyou from a wishful housecleaner in new zealand :)

        • http://www.theorganisedhousewife.com.au Katrina

          Try one room at a time Jessica, soon you will find your groove and be motivated to continue through the house :)

  • brella

    I am finding your tips and ideas really simple. Now I just need to put them into place. Achievable goals. Thanks a million.

    • http://www.theorganisedhousewife.com.au Katrina

      Take it one at a time and you will get there, write down the tips you would like to put in place so when you have successfully finished one you can move onto the next :)

  • GJ

    HI Katrina, i have been apart of your page on FB for a little while, love your daily tasks ideas. This year my new years resolution is to be more organised and reduce my time on FB. i’m also started with Norwex and would love too at some stage create a blog to help my fellow defence family out their, But i do need to get my self organised before i can even consider taking on another challange.
    Lets hope this year i can get orgainised : )

    • http://www.theorganisedhousewife.com.au Katrina

      You will, if you are determined you will do it. Get in the mind set then make the start. How exciting starting a new blog, please send the link when you have it up and running!

  • Irene

    i dont know how to go about , how to store laundry items in a cupboard in the laundry,, im new at all this and would like to start getting organised,, really need help………

  • Suse T

    Katrina you are awesome!
    Not only do you have free printables for this page (I was looking for them in the shop), but you are helping me understand my clutter. I get the ‘normal’ stuff done. Cooking, washing, kids to bed alive, etc.

    But it is my clutter that overwhelms me. Stuff accumulating because I don’t know where to put it, how to store it, if my husband will object if I throw it out or because I’m too lazy/tired to put it away and it’s easier leaving it on a flat surface in the room it’s meant to go in, than taking an extra minute to put it away properly.

    Previously it was also because my small children seem to require a lot of supervisions, if I take too long to put things away, someone gets hurt or something I don’t want them to touch is just too tempting. Bit more time to do things with one starting school this year though.

    I’m starting to get things de-cluttered from being addicted to your blog, now by chance I found this on the FAQ page and can develop a strategy. Instead of being all over the place about it.

    Thank you

  • Angkotis

    This is the most amazing site, I’m in total awe and am looking forward to putting your advice into effect. Well done and thank you :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/heathmarie43 Heather Link

    Wow. I’m usually the quiet lurker, not one to comment… but I just found your blog and already I’m hooked. I finished reading the first paragraph on this page and seriously?? ALL OF THE ABOVE. Dishes, clothes, toys, new baby, full time job, depressed, want time with the family….. it’s all so overwhelming!

    All of the STUFF we’ve accumulated is too much. Do I try to sell it since we could definitely use the money? Do I just donate it and get it out of my house as quickly as possible? Will I feel guilty afterwords for whatever I decide to do? Finding a designated space for everything seems like an impossibility right now.

    There’s just so much that needs organized in my life, I have absolutely nowhere to start! As I continue to read through your blog, I’m thinking that this will be exactly what I need to at least get started.

    THANKS!

    • http://www.theorganisedhousewife.com.au Katrina

      I’m so glad you found the blog Heather, hopefully it will be able to help you. Have you seen the 20 Days to Organise Your home Challenge, start with the pre challenge tasks and take your time through the challenge, eg, take 2-3 days for each day if you find it too overwhelming and you are time poor. Please let me know how you go J