Organizing The Home: A Look Inside An Organizer's Domain

People ask me all the time about organizing the home. As a professional organizer, they usually follow up their questions with, "I bet your home is perfect." Typically, my response is, "It's organized but far from perfect."

Let's tap into my love for the junk drawer for a second here. I preach that every kitchen should have ONE junk drawer. You've got to have somewhere to dump odds and ends that you don't know what to do with. Being organized doesn't necessarily mean you'll suddenly know what a random tiny part is or what it goes to, but it does mean that you'll put all the random tiny parts together where you can find them again if need be.

Back to my home...I am married, I have a puppy and we have a fair amount of house guests since we moved into a bigger place. Life certainly happens at my house. :)

In the photos below, you'll see that our home is organized (of course), but you'll also learn how to stay relatively tidy when life happens. Be sure to read THE JUNK DRAWER THEORY in the right column, which explains the difference between being organized and being perfect. Enjoy!

Our Closet

The drop front shoe boxes utilize the vertical space beautifully, so I highly recommend them. Also, for a more organized "look," use hangers that are the same color.

Our Accessories
I use these open canvas bins all over when organizing the home - to store accessories like purses and hats, in our closet for shoes, to hold detergents in our laundry area, to store sports equipment in the entryway closet, for organizing the home in any way! Here's 10 different ways to use open storage bins!

In Our Bedroom

You know when you wear something and it's not quite dirty but not quite clean? What to do with it?! I contain these clothing items in limbo in a basket by my bed (and there's one on the other side for my husband). It looks tidy and creates a home for these clothes that don't belong in the laundry basket nor with the clean garb.

Our Multipurpose Station

This table is in the dining room by the kitchen. There are 2 open baskets on the bottom - 1 holds pet accessories and the other holds cook books, recipes and takeout menus. The turquoise file box in between them stores my husbands active files and serves as his mobile office. As you can see, there are some piles of books and paper on the table's surface. Those are currently being used by my husband, and he goes through them every few weeks. If we have company, I can simply put the piles in his turquoise file box for an easy clean up.

Our Memorabilia

Having your memories in order is a big part of organizing the home. This closet holds our memorabilia. Each bin is labeled for the contents inside like "Nealey's Childhood Memories." Clear containers make for easy recognition of what's inside as well.

Our Kitchen Cabinets

I love turntables! I use them for spices (shown above), canned goods, and oils and vinegars.

My Home Office

I love containers! In my home office, I utilize colorful boxes to store office supplies, greeting cards, art supplies and more.

Want to know more? Here's how I organize my husband and all of his stuff. Enjoy!

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by Nealey Stapleton

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