How I Organized My Home, De-Cluttered My Life & Learned 21 New Tips

Then I set a timer for 30 minutes and start going through the first basket. I have to decide what to do with scraps of paper where I've scribbled ideas for future articles. If I stop to go through them, it will take too long and will violate my rule to stay on track. So I put them in a pile.

A dog toy that needs repair, I place on a nearby shelf to sew while watching TV.

An invitation for later in the month is the kind of thing that trips me up. I stick it in my day planner, which effectively has become a pending file, and I mark on my computer's calendar to RSVP once I know my schedule.

I throw a notice that my Delta Sky Miles expired last July into the trash bag. Oh well, this is a reminder to maintain order on a regular basis.

It feels good to have freed up one basket; I wish I had an additional half hour. But the timer just rang and I have other work to do. So I put my reading pile in a bin by the fireplace. I take a few extra minutes to throw away an accumulation of old newspapers from a pullout wire basket that's part of a kitchen cart. It's a great place for the decorative basket I've just emptied. This prime real estate is a convenient spot for my notes about articles I plan to write.

To free up the other wire basket under the cart, which was overflowing with notes from the four years I wrote for Moment Magazine, I put all the papers into two large plastic bags to store in a chest in my office. The chest contains other random categories, so I stick a PostIt on top of the chest with a list of what's inside. Dumping things into plastic bags has long been my solution for unimportant papers that would take too long to go through, but that I'm not ready to discard.

Wine bottles take up a whole corner of my kitchen counter. If necessary I can store them in the basement. For now, though I put them in the wire basket. They fit perfectly and look so orderly. Um, yay!

It's good feng shui to have clear counters, so next I attack a basket on the kitchen counter, beside which I keep my vitamin bottles. The basket has a mess of scratch paper, but also old notes I no longer need. I always stick coupons in this basket as well; not a one is current and some date back to 2008. Wow, I throw away all this trash and now I can fit my vitamins in the basket.

Day 3

Today I phone my daughter and ask what she's doing. "I'm taking the Organizing Challenge!" she says. This inspires me.

I head to my closet to hang up my new hosiery organizer. After sorting my tights and trouser socks, I put my best ones in the bottom pockets of the organizer. This frees up a whole dresser drawer for my scarves, which were mixed in with underwear and favorite socks. The hosiery organizer has a roomy pocket in back where I put a few pairs of tights that are in unopened packages. Now I have a whole drawer for just my bicycle shorts and gear.

I force myself to give away pajamas that one of my daughters gave me, telling myself she would be pleased I'm weeding out. This, along with some other giveaways, frees up another drawer where I put my socks. It's one big game of musical drawers.

I have five extra minutes, so I consult my list for a quick-fix area and use the time to impose some order on a small bathroom drawer.

Day 4

This promises to be a hectic day, filled with deadlines and appointments, so I decide to break my half hour into three increments of ten minutes each.

For donations to the homeless center where I lead a writing workshop, I spend ten minutes gathering blankets, sleeping bags and coats to donate. The weather has suddenly turned cold, so this is urgent.

Tomorrow a friend will come over to help me with a plan for framing some pictures. So I devote another ten minutes to gathering paintings and photos that we'll take to be framed. Some of these have been sitting around for two years. Making a list and committing to it has helped me to finally get these pictures off the floor and ultimately on the walls.

Remember I had a second basket on my kitchen table on Day 1? Today I tackle that and a few odds and ends, such as putting tea tins that have accumulated on my kitchen island back on the shelf where they belong.

Pending files have failed me in the past. Things accumulate in such folders and I forget to look. But I decide to try once more, so I label a folder and note on my calendar for the next few Sundays to check it. Hopefully by then keeping up will become habit.

Another habit I shall try to form is one my organizer Stephanie Schur is always reminding me about: Weed often.

I've used up my half hour of organizing time and though I've fulfilled my Organizing Challenge commitment, I'm motivated. Parts of the house look so good, that I want to keep going. There is no shortage of trouble spots that remain: hall table drawers, sox drawer, clothes closet, basement and even my computer files need organizing.

My reward, in addition to a clean, zen feeling, is writing this article. Think in advance of a reward (fresh flowers?) for when you complete the Organizing Challenge!

In the comments below, I'd love to hear about your organizing adventures! 

Check out my other organizing articles:

17 ORGANIZING TIPS FOR MY ORGANIZING CHALLENGE

FINDING ZEN IN THE CONTAINER STORE & ORGANIZING CHALLENGE

A MOVING EXPERIENCE WITH A PERSONAL ORGANIZER