When’s a better time than the new year to purge clutter in your home and organize your rooms and closets for a simpler, streamlined year? The new year is all about starting fresh. Let’s face it – we don’t all keep our resolutions that we make in December. Organizing, though, is one of those things that, once you do it, you’ll have an easier time sticking with it later.

Every year, I reevaluate my organization methods and tweak some things for each room to keep everything as functional as possible for my family and their needs. With organization comes a fresher, more inviting home (and a lot less stress for me!). That’s why I want to share some organization tips for the new year with you that help me refresh my home and avoid clutter all year long.

Helpful Organization Tips for the New Year

Makeover Your Mindset

I think the first thing is to allow yourself some grace. The majority of families do not have organized homes 100% of the time (or even 60%!). So, it’s important to keep in mind that organizing is often just something that needs to be done here and there.

Don’t beat yourself up about it and don’t dread the task. Once you get going, you’ll probably start to feel a huge weight lifted from your shoulders. Organizing is somewhat of a natural mood booster for many, including me!

Go into your organization tasks with a clear head and a positive mindset that what you’re doing now is going to benefit you and your home for months to come.

Combat the Overwhelm

Now, remember that organization isn’t a one-time deal either. You can’t expect to get everything in your home decluttered on January 1st. It’s something that, once you get your system in place, you’ll need to commit to keeping up with. For the new year, focus on creating a system that works for you and get it set up (like a new shoe organizer in the closet, or reworking your filing cabinets for paperwork).

To continue organizing through the year (which will, inevitably, need to be done in every home!), I make a list of things that are bugging me and need organizing every few months. That often looks like:

• Organize craft closet
• Clean out freezer
• Purge and organize playroom shelves
• Etc. etc

Then I’ll try to tackle one of these things each week. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes it doesn’t. And it’s okay.

Do It!!

My typical ‘order of operations’ when organizing is to purge first (I always have a Goodwill bag hanging in my garage and I add to it ALL the time). I feel physically and energetically lighter when I purge our ‘stuff.’

I once read Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.

I quickly realized there’s no way in Hell I could implement that (I am not the type to fold my t-shirts and stand them up vertically in a drawer – ain’t happening). BUT, what did stick with me was how she talks about really loving each item you own. And I really still consider that when I buy things. Do I really love this? It’s a learning process for me as I do still sometimes look at things and think, “why did I buy that?” But mostly I do feel like I am much more conscientious about the things I buy.

Once I have a system in place, I assess from my list of new year organization ideas what’s left and what I want to change, if anything. Are there ways to make the organization more efficient? Less cluttered?

Then I make a shopping list of any organizers or bins that could be used to accomplish those things. Some of my favorites are Our Shoe Box and Our Tall Shoe Box from The Container Store (this place is amazing for organization goodies!).

They’re technically shoe boxes, but I use them for EVERYTHING. Most of my kids toys are in these boxes in their closets. They can easily see what’s in each container and I enjoy them because all the pieces are easily kept together and the boxes can stack on top of each other to save space.

These routines – being conscious of what I buy, assessing my current organization, and adding in new systems – help me stay on top of the clutter all year.

These organization tips for the new year are what I use myself to bring a fresh start to my home and keep it as decluttered as possible for the coming months. I feel like when everything looks better, my family and I feel better, which helps us push the reset button for the upcoming year! What New Year organization tips do you have to share? I’d love to hear ‘em!

xoxo,