Organize + Energize: Create a Purpose for Each Room in Your Home

Monday, September 21, 2015

Kristin MacRae, GoLocalPDX Organizing Expert

Every room in your home should have a purpose. The kitchen is for cooking, the bedroom for sleeping and the den for hanging out, etc. There are some rooms in your home that you may have found to have no purpose at all and these rooms end up becoming drop spots for random items. The hall closet, a junk drawer, spare bedroom and basement are just a few of the spaces that sometimes don’t have a purpose. When spaces or rooms don’t have a purpose, they become clutter drop spots and a disorganized mess. When there isn’t a purpose to the space, you will throw items into that space because those items have no other home, or you haven’t taken the time to develop a working organized system for them. Does this sound familiar?

It’s time to give every room in your home a purpose. Here are 5 ways to help you get started.

Take a walk through your home. Take a pen and paper and stop at the entryway to each room in your home. Does each room have a purpose? When you are standing in the entryway, take notes about what you see. Has this room become a clutter drop spot? Jot down notes about what you want to change. Create a vision for each room that doesn’t have a purpose.

Make a plan. Make a plan to tackle each of the rooms on this list. Take it one room at a time, one day at a time and one step at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed. If you must, map out how you are going to tackle this room.

Start emptying. Once you have your plan, it’s time to put it into motion. Start emptying everything from the room. Take one section of the room at a time. Delcutter, categorize, and itemize. Start with a clean slate. Refer to your vision and think about what you want to live in this room and what needs to go.

Create your systems. Think about how you want to function with the items you are going to keep in this room. Develop a working organized system for everything in this room. If you don’t know what to do with items, think about if there are other items like these stored throughout the home. Grab all of these items and store them in one place together. These working organized systems are the key to maintaining the organization in these rooms. If there are systems in place, clutter will not form and there will be structure to the room. The room will have a purpose.

Organizing supplies. You may find that you need organizing supplies to hold your items. This will be the last step. Before you head out to the store, check to see if you can repurpose any containers that you may already have. Think about what you need to hold, measure the space, take inventory of what you have and purchase supplies to perfectly fit what you need to hold. Having the right supplies in place will help you maintain your organization.

Once your rooms have a purpose, you’ll never find yourself shutting a door to a room filled with clutter. If you create a room with a purpose, you’ll find that the room will be used as it’s intended to be used. Before you throw items into that room, think about what you have in your hand and if there is a system for these items somewhere else in the home. Be mindful when you walk into your home with a receipt, or a bag, or when you are shifting items around. Stop and think about what you need to do with that item rather than just throwing it into a space. The clean-up work you’ll have to do months down the road isn’t worth it. Take a second to be mindful and take care of it in the moment. Make a plan to give one space a purpose and transform that room.

Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, the founder and owner of Organizing in RI, has always enjoyed finding creative ways to streamline the environment around her. She has appeared on air on Patricia Raskin's Positive Business Radio and her articles have been published in the Rhode Island Small Business Journal and New England Home Life. Kristin's CD, Organizing Basics, is a 1-hour guide for the person who wants to get organized but doesn't know where to start. She is also available for organizing workshops. Tune into her weekly radio show, Organize, Energize! on talkstreamradio.com.