Do you feel overwhelmed by clutter and disorganization in your home? There's no denying that keeping a home organized can be a challenge, especially if you lead a busy work + personal life or have little ones running around.

And yet, creating an organized home can have a positive impact on your mental + emotional health as well as dramatically improve your productivity. Sounds pretty darn good doesn’t it? Yeah, we know it does *wink* 

BUT it’s so often that we scour the internet looking for the fastest or cheapest solution to our problem. In the end, that usually doesn’t solve much. If you want intentional, meaningful + true transformation in your life and home — then you have to begin by asking yourself better questions. 

It’s from asking better questions that you get better answers. So, the quick/cheap/unhelpful question is what is going to get clutter off my counters, desk, and the floor of the kids toy room like r-i-g-h-t now?!?!? 

But what you’re really after isn’t just the answer to the clutter that takes up space mentally + physically in your home right now. What you’re really after is the answer to the question: what does it take to have + maintain an organized home all the time?

Well my friend, that's a great question. Let’s dive into the 5 habits of organized people + start actually transforming your home + life. 

Shall we ;)

Start With A Plan

Without question, everything starts with a plan. In fact, if you hang out here a lot + consider yourself (like many) one of the Elegant Simplicity tribe, then you know the saying “plan your work + work your plan” which was told to our co-founder John, by his mentor Dennis Green. 

It’s foundational to everything we do + of course, is near + dear to us at Elegant Simplicity. But it’s also worth its weight in gold as it relates to maintaining an organized home.

Think about it. 

Everything in your professional life that is successful has begun with a plan. Every great product, service or life-changing habit has begun with a clearly laid plan, and this is no different for your home.

In our assessment phase, we take a deep (+ we mean deep) dive into your clutter challenges as well as the things that aren’t challenging you. We’re identifying not only activities, routines + habits but also what “stuff” is building up + where in your home is it laying stagnant.

1. So, begin by taking a look at your home + where you feel the most friction. 

2. Then, make a list with deadlines for yourself — from here you’ve charted the end before you’ve even decluttered one thing.

And the clients we serve every single month who have an organized home, understand it all starts with a plan.

Make Decluttering A Priority

Well, well. Now look how amazing the answers are when you’re asking deep, meaningful, intentional questions about how to have an organized home. 

Alright, those who have an organized home make decluttering a priority. So, what does that look like? It looks a lot like prioritizing anything else in your life.

Here at Elegant Simplicity, we are dependent upon our calendars to tell us where to focus. And people with organized homes, like our full-service organizing members, they calendar their decluttering time like they would working out, dinner dates, movie nights or a vacation.

For anything truly important to us, we must boundary our time. We must take control, not let it slip away, that THIS time is meant for this priority.

There are certainly a lot of organizing strategies that our clients rely on us to help them with. However, one thing we know to be true about our organizing members, who live in beautifully organized homes, is they boundary + prioritize our time together.

Keep Organizing Systems Simple

Another habit of those who live in an organized home, is that they work to keep things simple. Dare we say, Elegant + Simple *wink*. 

This means they’re not merely committed to “getting it done” so it looks good. They want it to be functional, purposeful, + for their organizing systems to be relied upon as long as they do the work to maintain them. 

This doesn’t look like rushing to stuff things in a drawer or running out to buy containers and bins so it presents beautifully for a moment in time. As a luxury interior design + professional organizing firm, we love when our homes look good, but function precedes aesthetics. In other words, having a place for everything and keeping only what you need is integral.

And it’s integral because, at its core — simple organizing systems avoid cluttering your space with unnecessary items or too much stuff which in turn makes it difficult to find what you need — when you need it.

But keeping organizing systems simple is paramount for another reason as well. 

Simplifying how your home is organized, pulled-together, tidied, and decluttered makes it easier for everyone in your home to maintain it. This reduces stress, minimizes clutter and promotes a sense of calm in your home. And you do this by finding practicality in the organizing systems you create. 

Practicality is different for everyone but when you dig into how you + your family use the space, the organizing systems begin to unveil themselves. 

Create And Use Storage Solutions Effectively

So, we’ve talked about how important organizing systems that are simple can actually be. 

Another habit of people with an organized home is, we’ve created storage solutions that are effective. 

Now, you might say — well, isn’t any closet system or storage solution effective? Sadly, my friend the answer is no. 

Storage solutions aren’t created equal. Sometimes an entire storage system or custom closet is needed because what you have isn’t functional (we discover this in our assessment phase) + other times it’s as simple as embellishing + adding onto what you do have.

In either case, this habit is not merely the creation of storage solutions but the utilization of the closets, shelves, or storage. If you’re not using the storage solutions though, then it’s really not an effective setup now is it? 

And storage containers, bins, drawer liners, labels, new shelves, and other organizational tools can be helpful to ensure things are not only accessible to be used but also put back in the right place. 

Maintaining An Organized Home

One of the key habits of people with an organized home is that they’ve mentally acknowledged that clutter is not a one-time thing. As we say here at Elegant Simplicity, home is not a rotisserie chicken you can’t just set it + forget it *wink* Clutter connects us.

Those who live in an organized home are committed to planning, setting up organizing systems + maintaining them for the long haul — they practice it. For some of our clients, that’s a daily task that they’ve built into their morning or evening routine + for others that’s what our organizing sessions are for as your accountability partner :) 

Regardless, living in an organized home takes consistency. But organization reduces stress, increases productivity, minimizes distractions + of course makes for a positive impact on your well-being.

Well friend, there you have it...5 habits of people with an organized home! And don’t forget, if you’re in the preliminary planning stages of your next project, let’s chat. 

P.S. If you loved this article then you’re going to really enjoy the 4 Days To A More Beautiful + Functional Home.