Invitation Homes : An Organized Home Leads to an Organized Mind

The organization and cleanliness of your home affects you more than you realize. Disarray and disorganization in your living spaces can make you feel trapped or unmotivated to live your life to its fullest potential. Studies have shown that people who have an organized home are less likely to suffer from health issues such as heart disease and have lower stress levels. A house is not a home if you're worrying about clutter and unfinished projects instead of focusing on what matters most to you.

However, the task of cleaning and organizing your entire house is a daunting one. To avoid being swallowed by the dread of this project, we suggest breaking it into tolerable, bite-sized mini-projects. It's a process and it might take you a while, but it'll be worth it in the end. To help you get started, we've compiled a mini-guide to creating a home that makes you proud. You'll be happy to come home and spend more time with loved ones and less time worrying about messes.

Planning and Inspiration

[Attachment] Diving right into the deep end of organizing your home is a sure-fire way to burn out before you get any real work accomplished. It's better to work slow and steady. Coming up with a plan of action is a great way to ensure you meet your goals. Here are a few tips before you get started.

1. Draft your Plan. Figure out where the biggest problem areas are in your home and determine how best to fix them. Too cluttered? Not enough storage? No problem. Make a list of storage containers that would work in the space. Create categories for each container and store similar items in each.
2. Don't Break the Bank. Keep an eye out for sales on storage and organization. The best ones tend to happen after the new year.
3. Get Inspired: Jump on the Marie Kondo trend and discover what sparks joy in your home. Her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and her series on Netflix 'Tidying Up with Marie Kondo' will motivate you and teach you the best ways to sort through your belongings and determine what you actually need in order to truly enjoy your life.

Space-by-Space

Kitchen:

As the heart of the home, the kitchen tends to get messier and cluttered faster than other rooms in the house. But fear not, there are simple solutions to common problems. If you can't ever find anything in your pantry, try using storage bins to keep similar items together. Additionally, using clear, air-tight storage containers for your bulk items such as rice, pasta, and cereal allows you to see what you have as well as keep everything fresher longer. Your cabinets are another area that tend to get cramped. Try pan organizing racks so you can easily grab what you need without digging through a mountain of cookware.

Bathroom:

If you get ready in a messy bathroom each morning, it adds to your stress. But that's easily avoidable. The bathroom should be your place of relaxation: a place where you can sip your coffee as you prepare for the day. You keep a lot of small items in the bathroom, which can make your counters and drawers cluttered. For your drawers, compartmentalize by using small containers to keep everything visible yet organized. For the items you keep on your counter and use every day, try using a spinning cosmetic rack. For bulky hair dryers and hair styling tools, utilize the inside of your cabinet doors with command hooks for hanging. You'll have your counters cleared in no time.

Garage:

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It's easy for your garage to gradually transform into an over-flowing storage unit for everything that doesn't have a home. One day you walk in and you're surrounded by boxes filled with items you, at one point, had every intention of organizing. Your garage might be the most difficult space in your home to get organized, but it also has the most potential. You can use cork boards for hanging various tools and supplies. Keep different nuts, bolts, and screws in their own little containers so you can easily find what you need. Storage containers are a must in the garage. Invest in some industrial shelving so you can keep everything out of the way but still in plain sight. Don't forget to label each container for an added layer of organization.

Closets:

Like the garage, closets can quickly turn into a catch-all for the items you have no idea where to store. The out of sight, out of mind saying applies to the closet as well as the garage. Not every home has the luxury of spacious, walk-in closets with plenty of room for long-term storage, but that doesn't mean you still can't make the most out of whatever size closet you have. Before you buy an expensive organizational tool, categorize all your clothes. Professional tops all go together, as well as pants/jeans and casual shirts. If you don't have any additional storage space in the closet, you can switch out winter and summer clothes and store the off-season clothes in your newly organized garage. Also, a pile of shoes on your closet floor only leads to frustration. Find hanging shoe storage or a shoe rack for the floor.

Small Tasks You Can Do Every Day That Make a Huge Difference

1. Make your bed every morning.
2. Make To-Do lists.
3. Unload/load the dishwasher.
4. Keep your kitchen table or breakfast bar clean.
5. When you leave a room, see if there's anything that belongs in another place in the house and take it there.